A Nice Dinner
by UrbanMuse
Summary: On the eve of a long weekend, Jo asks Mac out for a nice dinner and their relationship grows. Takes place post-season 8.
1. Chapter 1 Prologue: Hunger

**Disclaimer:** CSI NY and the characters don't belong to me - just the ideas in my story. No copyright infringement intended; no profit being made.

**Note:** Hi everyone - I recently joined the site and this is my first fan fiction - please let me know your thoughts, whether negative or positive. It's just what it says it is - a mixture of friendship and romance, so don't expect too much action! Perhaps a bit of humour, if I got it right. It's possible the rating may change after a couple chapters, depending on where my muse leads me.

A Nice Dinner: Prologue - Hunger

Jo Danville gathered her phone, keys and a couple file folders from her desk and crammed them unceremoniously into her bag. She reached over and flipped off her desk lamp, plunging her office into near darkness, the only illumination coming from the hall lighting and the distant office lights of the surrounding buildings. She rolled her eyes, glancing at her watch – after 8:00 p.m. She hadn't realized it was that late already. The team had finished up the Cragen homicide case a few hours before and nearly everyone had headed out for drinks rather early, even for a Friday. Even Mac had said he would join them a bit later, once he'd returned a few calls.

Jo, on the other hand, had declined, having a mound of paperwork she wanted to go through before leaving. She wasn't sure why – she was all alone this weekend. Ellie was spending the long holiday weekend with a girlfriend's family – heading off for one last early autumn camping trip before the weather got too cold. Tyler had left for Boston with some college friends for the weekend and wouldn't be around for their usual Sunday morning brunch. Jo had intended to finish all her work at the office and enjoy a completely relaxing few days puttering around her apartment, exploring the city, taking in an exhibit, whatever popped into her head. A rare, completely unplanned weekend.

But in retrospect, she wasn't sure exactly what she was going to do with herself for three days, completely alone. She was on call Saturday afternoon, and again Monday morning, but otherwise wasn't scheduled for an actual shift the entire weekend, until Tuesday. It happened so rarely that work or her family didn't take up all of her time, she realized that perhaps she'd been a bit lax in keeping up with her personal life. Here she had a whole block of free time and no one to share it with. Maybe she should have joined the team for drinks tonight. She wondered vaguely whether Mac had shown up - whether he was perhaps still there. She smiled ruefully at the thought that she was always encouraging Mac to join them, be more social, have a life outside the office. And the one time he said he'd go, or that he at least might make an appearance, she'd decided to stay behind. She supposed she could still join them – she expected they'd be there into the early hours. But they'd be in full swing by now and she wasn't feeling her usual exuberant self for some reason. Perhaps she'd just grab some take out and watch one of the movies she'd recorded last week.

She sighed as she stood up, but as she passed by the office doorway to grab her jacket from the rack, her stomach rumbled loudly. She glanced rather sheepishly towards the hall, as a night shift lab tech happened to walk by at the same moment. But he didn't seem to even notice her, let alone the roaring of her empty stomach, which to her seemed to echo cavernously back and forth throughout her office. She hadn't eaten since, . . . well, she wasn't exactly sure when. Come to think of it, she'd skipped any sort of real lunch, so it must have been that apple and cup of coffee Mac had shared with her early this afternoon, on the way back to the precinct to meet with Flack after the arrest of the suspect.

She smiled as she pulled her coat off the hanger, remembering their easy banter in the truck during the drive. She nearly laughed out loud as she recalled one moment, when she'd told some silly joke. Jo couldn't even remember what it was now. But she'd been mesmerized by Mac's silly smile, the way his eyes jerked sideways to meet her gaze then quickly turned downwards, the slight pinkish tinge that colored his cheeks, as she'd made some off-hand, slightly sexual remark. She could always get him with her flirtatious comments and mannerisms, but she was pretty sure that deep down, he enjoyed it. And on the rare occasion that he actually reciprocated, or even better, initiated it himself, it made it all worth it for her.

As she grabbed in her coat pocket for her keys, she suddenly felt the corners of a well-worn sticky note that she'd stuffed in there at the precinct. Damn, something she'd forgotten to take care of after the case. It would have to wait until Tuesday now – too late to make the call on a Friday evening before the holiday Monday. She strolled back to her desk, grabbed a new sticky note and scribbled a quick reminder to herself, slamming it on the only empty space around the edge of her computer screen. That done, she tossed the pen back on her desk, but it hit a stack of files and careened off onto Lindsey's desk, sliding across the pristine work surface until it hit a small cotton ball sculpture that Lucy had made in daycare. Both the pen and sculpture fell off onto the floor somewhere under Lindsey's chair.

_Oh for Christ's sake_, thought Jo. Lindsey was amazingly tolerant of Jo's inability to keep her space clean, but one thing she didn't tolerate was when the mess started encroaching on her side of the office. Jo was always careful to maintain her mountains of files and sticky note collages within the confines of her own area. The pen probably wouldn't be a big problem, but good heavens, the cotton ball sheep, or cloud, or whatever it was supposed to be was priceless and had to be retrieved.

She dropped her bag onto her chair, threw her coat on top, sending the chair spinning wildly around, and moved to Lindsey's desk to retrieve the pen and "sculpture". Pulling out the chair, she immediately spotted the pen and grabbed it, tossing it randomly back onto her own desk. But the cotton ball creation was nowhere in sight, so she kneeled down, searching further under the desk. She couldn't see it anywhere. _It must have tumbled back under the desk_, she thought. She couldn't reach it from where she was so she crawled further under, stretching out her upper body and arm to feel way underneath the drawer section of the desk.

Meanwhile, Mac had just switched off his office light and grabbed his coat, ready to head home. He was supposed to go out for drinks with everyone, but one thing had led to another and he was just now leaving. _8:15 - too late now,_ he thought to himself. Besides, he'd only agreed to make an effort to show up because he assumed Jo would go; she always did if she didn't have obligations with her kids. He wasn't sure he'd enjoy it as much if she weren't there. She knew just how to push his buttons, although she never went too far; just far enough to relax him a bit and allow him to truly enjoy himself. But right after he'd agreed to come, she'd come up with some lame excuse as to why she had to stay late at work.

He was just approaching the elevator when he turned to look down the hall. It appeared that Jo's light was off, but she hadn't come by to say good night, something she always did and something he'd come to look forward to each evening. It was nice to take a few minutes to check in with her at the end of the day, once the office was nearly empty and relatively quiet.

He furrowed his brow, wondering if she was still here somewhere. Or perhaps he'd been out of his office when she stopped by. He couldn't recall leaving his desk in the last couple hours . . . except to go to the bathroom. He sighed. She must have stopped by then. He wondered for a moment what she had planned for the long weekend; he'd intended to ask her when she came by but, well, now it was too late. He turned back to the elevator, debating whether to swing by Senor Chow's for take out or just grab a pre-made sandwich from the corner deli. He was about to press the elevator button when a sudden shriek caused him to turn his head back towards the lab. He set off at a quick pace down the hallway in the direction of Jo and Lindsey's office, from where he was sure the sound had come.

Still stretched out on her knees under Lindsey's desk, her bottom up in the air, Jo had been sure she'd felt something, if she could just reach a bit further under the damned desk. Her hand had touched something initially fluffy yet somewhat sticky, even a bit tickly. She'd jerked it out suddenly, only to see the remnants of what was clearly a huge dust ball caught up in a spider web, along with a rather large, disgruntled brown spider crawling across her hand. She'd shrieked, startled, and begun frantically shaking her hand trying to get the spider, the web or the dust off. She didn't particularly care which.

Mac came skidding to a stop outside the dark office, his hand resting gently on his gun in its holster, as he first noticed Jo's purse and coat strewn across her chair, which was still spinning slightly. Looking down, he then noticed Jo's feet and bottom sticking out from under Lindsey's desk. Not at all sure what was going on, he silently moved into the office until he was directly behind Jo. He saw no one else, just her back half, her head still under the desk, and her hands wildly shaking. He removed his hand from his gun, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Jo?" He asked tentatively.

She gasped, completely startled at the sound of someone's voice, and rose up way too quickly, banging the top of her head on the underside of Lindsey's desk.

"Owww, damnit," she cursed, finally extricating herself from under the desk and glaring up at him as she rubbed the sore spot on her head. "Mac Taylor you scared the living daylights out of me. What are you doin' sneaking up behind a woman in the dark?" She sounded annoyed, but he could clearly see the glint in her eyes.

He stifled a laugh at the sight of her as she slowly began to stand up. Her hair was completely disheveled, her hand was covered in dust or something and there was a small brown spider crawling up her white t-shirt, just above the waistband of her jeans, climbing steadily upwards. He reached his hand out to brush it away.

"You have a spider on your . . ." but he was cut off before he could even finish as she jumped straight up, both hands flailing wildly around, brushing off her black jeans, her shirt, her hair, anything she could reach.

"Where is it? Get it off . . ." her voice hysterical, on the verge of panic.

He couldn't help but chuckle as he reached out to steady her, placing both his hands on her shoulders in a calming gesture.

"Stay still. It's on your . . . chest, just here . .."

She finally stopped moving and he reached out again to brush off the spider, which had now left her t-shirt for the tangle of her necklaces, just above her cleavage. With one swift movement of his hand, he brushed it away, sending her necklaces jingling every which way.

"Is it gone?" she asked quietly, her frantic movement of a few seconds ago now replaced by a fearful stillness.

He smiled. "All gone. It was just a little spider."

She looked up at him, her eyes narrowing a bit, her hands suddenly planted on her hips. " 'Little'?" she mocked. "That thing was huge."

He laughed again softly. "Ok. I didn't know you were afraid of spiders."

"I never said I was – it just startled me." She frowned back at him, trying in vain to regain some of her composure now by smoothing her hair and untangling her necklaces. One seemed hopelessly intertwined with the other and as she struggled to get a good view of the tangled knot, he reached out a hand and took them gently from her grip. "Let me."

As he worked to disentangle the two chains, his rough hands kept brushing her skin, between her cleavage and her neckline. He didn't seem to notice, focused as he was on her jewelry, his eyes squinting in the dim light, but she was all too aware. A sudden warmth spread through her body and she thanked the heavens she'd not turned the lights back on, as she was sure her cheeks were flushed by now. Just when she thought perhaps she should back away and take over herself, fearing what she might do if he continued to touch the bare skin of her lower neckline, he finally let them drop. "Ta da!" he exclaimed and moved back surveying his work with a quirky smile on his face.

She looked at him strangely, not expecting that particular expression from Mac. "Thanks," she mumbled, her hands moving up to feel her necklaces, to feel her skin still heated and tingling from his earlier, subtle touches. Although she'd considered moving away from him just a moment before, now she missed his closeness.

She shook her head slightly to clear the haze from her brain. _What the hell am I doing?_ she thought to herself. She looked back up towards him. He didn't seem affected in the least by what had happened. _That's because nothing happened, you idiot,_ she chided herself.

She was brought out of her reverie when Mac spoke again. "What were you looking for down there anyway?"

"Oh darn." She'd almost forgotten. She glanced down and immediately noticed the cotton blob stuck to the wheel of Lindsey's chair. She reached down and carefully disentangled it, holding it up in triumph for Mac to see. He gave her a quizzical look. She merely smiled back. It looked somewhat worse for the wear, but given it hadn't had any precise shape to begin with, she began to remold it as best she could, finally setting it back down on Lindsey's desk.

"It was a present from Lucy – I knocked it off the desk on my way out." She said simply, smiling and brushing past him to grab her things from her chair. She'd best get going; she needed some air.

"Ah," he replied, having no idea what more he could say.

As she was putting on her coat, she suddenly paused and turned towards him. "I thought you said you were actually going to go out for drinks tonight?"

He smiled ruefully. "I was considering it, but I got a call, which lasted longer than I'd ever imagined possible, then I got distracted after, and, well, now it's . . ." he glanced momentarily at his watch ". . . after 8:30, so I figured I'd just head home." He looked at her a moment, his eyes narrowing. "You didn't go either." He continued, somewhat accusatorily.

"I wanted to get all my work out of the way – I've got the whole weekend to myself and didn't want to be bringing any paperwork home." She shrugged. "But I'm sure they're still there. Why don't you go join them?" Jo looked up at him as she grabbed for her bag.

"You're leaving too; why don't you go join them?" He threw back.

She squinted her eyes at him. "I asked you first."

He shrugged, shaking his head. "I'm not sure I'm really in the mood."

She raised her eyebrows at him as she slung her bag over her shoulder. "Are you ever in the mood, Mac Taylor?" And she walked past him, pausing outside of her office as she waited for him to join her.

He frowned slightly after her, catching the double entendre in both their comments. He moved slowly towards her, and was just about to open his mouth, hoping some witty response would be forthcoming when her stomach rumbled so loudly he could clearly hear it from 5 feet away. He stopped dead in his tracks, watching as her face turned a bright crimson shade.

He smiled smugly, their previous exchange forgotten for the moment. "Hungry are we?"

"Ugh, I could eat an entire side of beef." She glanced sideways at him as he approached her and they began walking towards the elevators together. "You know, that half an apple and coffee you so gallantly provided for lunch, didn't quite make the cut. A Southern woman needs her food, you know."

He scoffed. "I wasn't aware I was buying you lunch when I handed over my half eaten apple so I could drive. But if you're free, I'm happy to buy you a burger and a beer. You know, to make up for my earlier shortcomings in the lunch department."

She stopped as they reached the elevator bank. An idea surfaced in her mind and before she talked herself out of it, she went with it. "You know Mac, what do you say we go out and have a nice dinner together?"

He eyed her for a moment. " You mean seated at a table, with a tablecloth, china and wine glasses and an array of confusing silverware, instead of stools at the counter, plastic plates and beer in a bottle?"

She frowned at him slightly. "Oh come on, the burger joint's a little nicer than you make it out to be; and I'm sure you know your way around an 'array of confusing silverware,'" she chided. Then she turned serious. "But yeah, I just thought it might be nice, you know, for a change. If you don't have any other plans . . ." she trailed off and he smiled somewhat sadly, his eyes heavy. She knew he didn't have plans and she expected he knew she knew.

He'd told her a few weeks past that Christine had broken up with him a while before he'd returned to work after the pharmacy shooting. They were still friends, but his near death experience had hit her hard. Brought back all those memories of her brother, who hadn't been quite so lucky. And while she'd been by Mac's side throughout the recovery and the rehab, she'd made it clear that she just couldn't live with that overriding fear that he might not make it home at the end of any given day. Jo had felt terribly sorry for Mac. It was such an effort for him to open up to someone, to let himself become close to anyone. But she understood Christine's fear and appreciated that she'd let him know as soon as she knew herself that she couldn't move forward in their relationship.

She looked at him a moment, unable to read behind his expression. She feared that perhaps she'd offended him with her assumption he had no other plans. But a moment later, his face broke out in a shy smile. "A nice dinner sounds perfect." He sighed dramatically. "Besides, the last time we had burgers, I distinctly recall spotting a rather large spider crawling up the wall over the counter." He glanced at her and noticed her eyes widen. He leaned closer to her. "I wouldn't want you to be traumatized twice in one night," he stated matter of factly, as he reached out to press the elevator button.


	2. Chapter 2 First Course: AmuseBouche

**End of Previous Chapter:**

She looked at him a moment, unable to read behind his expression. She feared that perhaps she'd offended him with her assumption he had no other plans. But a moment later, his face broke out in a shy smile. "A nice dinner sounds perfect." He sighed dramatically. "Besides, the last time we had burgers, I distinctly recall spotting a rather large spider crawling up the wall over the counter." He glanced at her and noticed her eyes widen. He leaned closer to her. "I wouldn't want you to be traumatized twice in one night," he stated matter of factly, as he reached out to press the elevator button.

**A Nice Dinner 2 – First Course: Amuse-Bouche (A bite sized course served to prepare the palate before the main meal)**

As they descended to the garage, Jo couldn't help but steal sideways glances at Mac. He seemed completely content to spend the ride in silence. Jo, on the other hand, felt she should be making conversation but was momentarily at a complete loss for words.

She knew she'd had a crush on Mac for some time now. Hell, maybe even since she'd started at the Lab. But she'd never seriously thought about pursuing it. However, since Mac's shooting and his breakup with Christine, Jo had found herself thinking more and more about that emptiness in her personal life. And the possibility of filling it with her boss had started to seem just a bit more plausible over the past weeks.

By the 4th floor, Mac finally met her gaze and quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Are you ok?" He asked. "You seem nervous."

"I'm fine. Just pent up energy. You know, stuck at my desk for the past several hours." She smiled back.

His face remained impassive as he continued watching her. Since they'd entered the elevator, some part of her had been in constant motion, whether her foot tapping the floor, her knee banging the back wall, or her fingers playing with one of her necklaces. "Perhaps we should walk to the restaurant instead of driving. I think you need to burn off some energy. Because right now, you're reminding me of the last time I went out to breakfast with Lindsey and Lucy." He smiled over at her.

She frowned. "Now you're comparing me to a four year old?" But suddenly her expression changed and she looked at him mischievously. "If we walked, we could share a nice bottle of wine along with that nice dinner."

He laughed. "Trying everything to get me drunk tonight?" He said, thinking back to her earlier encouragement that he join the team getting drinks.

She burst out laughing, then got a sly look on her face. "Mac Taylor drunk, that might make for an interesting evening," but before she could continue, the elevator door opened and they glanced at each other, unsure of what the plan was now.

Mac moved first, stepping into the garage. Jo followed suit, only to stop a foot away from him. "So where shall we go?" She ventured.

He nodded his head towards the Avalanche, motioning for her to follow. "I've got an idea. Friday night, nearly 9:00, we're going to have a tough time getting in anywhere. How about we drive back to my place, drop off the car, because I need it this weekend. I know this little Italian place a block away from my building, we can walk to it. Relaxed atmosphere, great food, never crowded because it's on a quiet alley. I think you might find it perfect for a 'nice dinner', maybe even that "nice bottle of wine'." His eyes twinkled as he repeated her words.

She smiled. "I love it already." He opened the car door and she climbed up, glancing back at him with a ravishing smile as he shifted to close her door. He caught her eye just as he pushed on her door – damn he loved that smile of hers. He was about to tell her as much when the door, set in motion by his earlier push, slammed suddenly, startling them both. He remained outside, glancing at her through the windowpane, but she turned her face, grabbing for the seat belt.

Mac got in and glanced at her. She was looking out the side window of the car; at what, he wasn't sure since he was parked against the wall. He cleared his throat and reached over her, unlocking the glove compartment and placing his piece inside. "You wanna lock up your gun?" he asked. She turned to him, confused – she hadn't really heard him. He shrugged. "Unless you think you might need it during dinner. You never know; a couple glasses of wine, I might get out of hand." She chuckled, realizing what he'd said. "I doubt I'll need my gun to fend you off. Sorry. I was daydreaming."

She retrieved her gun from her purse and stowed it away. He locked it and started the car, pulling slowly out of the garage. They chatted comfortably about the day, and a few short minutes later, they were pulling into the underground parking lot at Mac's building. He parked, shut off the ignition, and looked to Jo. "You need anything or shall we just head over to the restaurant?"

Jo paused a moment, not exactly sure what she might 'need'. He noticed her hesitation and reached out a hand, her heart skipping several beats as it approached her. But he very gently pulled a wayward strand of hair from one side of her face, over to the other, straightening out her part. "There, better." he smiled at her. She let out her breath, not even realizing she'd been holding it.

She laughed, nervously. "Oh God, I never even thought to look at myself after my journey under Lindsey's desk. I must look a fright." She held out her hands in front of her. "Not to mention I still have dust and spider web all over me." She glanced down at her clothing, brushing them randomly. "I should have cleaned up in the ladies' room before we left."

He shrugged, "We can go up and you can use mine if you want . . ."

She eyed him slyly. "Mac, if I didn't know better I'd think you were trying to get me up to your apartment."

A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, "Well, you have been pushing me to get drunk all night."

She crossed her hands in front of her chest and gave him her best glare. "Oh I have not." She uncrossed her arms and reached down to grab her bag. "Let's just go – I'll make myself presentable when we get to the restaurant."

"Jo, I don't think you could ever NOT look presentable."

"Well, maybe you should see me first thing in the morning sometime . . ." she started off rather cockily, then trailed off, averting her gaze as she realized how that sounded.

He noticed her blush as she turned her head – she wasn't usually shy. A sudden pulse of playfulness coursed through him. "Well, you'd have to get me drunk and I'd have to get you up to my apartment before I would see you fresh out of bed . . ." _Damn, that didn't sound right at all._ He hesitated a moment. "Sorry, I didn't mean that would only happen if I were drunk, or . . ." He sighed. Maybe he better just stop before he made it any worse.

She looked back at him, her blush having dissipated, a silly grin on her face, noticing his clear embarrassment. "Don't worry Mac, you never did strike me as the drunken, one night stand type. Unless you're starting a new chapter of your life . . ."

He blew a breath out quickly and glanced down at his watch. "No. I think we'd better get going or our nice dinner is going to turn into a greasy pizza at the all night diner down the street." And without a further word or glance towards her, he climbed out and quickly came round to let her out.

Jo couldn't help but smile. He had actually been flirting with her – hadn't he? At least until his boyish shyness got the better of him. She loved it when that happened. She thought that in those moments, he must look just like he did when he was a kid and had gotten into trouble. Her previous nervousness at the prospect of doing something more than grab a quick burger with her boss began to diminish in light of his sudden playfulness.

They walked towards the bank of elevators and just as Mac pressed the button, the doors to one opened, revealing a young couple caught in an intimate, clearly heading up from the garage level below them. As Mac and Jo entered, the couple immediately separated, their eyes downcast. The elevator opened again on the Lobby Level and Mac and Jo exited.

She glanced over at Mac. "Well, we better get movin' – they clearly have the upper hand in this whole get drunk and get up to the apartment routine." She said teasingly, indicating the couple in the elevator with a backwards wave of her hand. She was trying to find his playful side again.

But it seemed to backfire. He paused before opening the front door of his building, turning to her. "You think that's where we're heading tonight?" He wasn't sure himself whether he was asking seriously or just playing along with what he'd thought was just her usual flirtatious self.

She looked directly into his eyes, hers narrowing slightly, her lips pursed for a moment. She decided that tonight she'd just throw caution to the wind and go for it. She leaned closer to him and whispered seductively into his ear. "Well, I guess that depends on how dinner goes, don't ya think?"

And with a sudden toss of her head, causing her necklaces to jangle wildly, she pushed through the door and out towards the sidewalk, leaving Mac looking after her and wondering what exactly was going on with her tonight. He enjoyed her company immensely, he always had, but tonight she seemed to really be pushing the limits with her flirting and it was beginning to make him feel a bit disoriented. But he had to admit, it wasn't necessarily a bad feeling.

They walked in silence to the alley behind his building. Mac led her to the small restaurant, the doorway framed by large bay windows on either side. He held the door open, his face unreadable.

She passed him and stopped just inside, taking in her surroundings. The place was small, but the atmosphere was warm and inviting and the smell of the food made Jo's mouth start to water. She smiled over at him as he joined her in the entryway, waiting for the waiter to seat them. "This is perfect, Mac. Thanks."

The smiling waiter approached them and they were greeted by his heavy Italian accent. "Buona sera signora, signore, we hava two table to choose," and he indicated one table for four next to them, in one of the bay windows at the front, and another smaller corner table in the back, with connected booth seats at two adjoining sides of the table. They looked at each other a moment. "Mac, I'm going to go wash my hands. Go ahead and pick whichever you prefer." And before he could speak, she took off towards the back of the restaurant.

The waiter eyed Mac pleasantly, waiting until Jo disappeared down the hallway leading to the restrooms before he spoke. "Back table - nice for romantic evening." Mac frowned slightly. He really wasn't pushing for a romantic dinner, but he also didn't want to sit in the fishbowl table at the front of the restaurant. He sat surrounded by the glass windows of his office all day so he thought he'd prefer a bit more seclusion at the moment. He nodded towards the back table and the waiter smiled, leading him to it and handing out the menus.

Meanwhile Jo pushed open the door of the restroom and locked it. She glanced at herself in the mirror, sighing. She needed to think a moment about what she was doing. She moved to use the toilet in back, sitting and pondering the evening. She'd been flirting with Mac incessantly since beginning her job at the Lab; she did that to everyone. But now that she'd finally admitted to herself that she really liked him, that perhaps there could be more between them - now every interaction between the two of them seemed laden with meaning. It wasn't just for fun; it was real now. At least for her. She wasn't sure about Mac yet. He certainly seemed more responsive than usual. But was that because he actually liked her, or just because he was enjoying their camaraderie? He had seemed more relaxed in generalopen since his shooting, connecting on a more social level with the team. Maybe that's all this was tonight. But she hoped it was more.

She exited the stall, washed her hands and attempted to fix her hair a bit. She sighed deeply, deciding to go with her earlier thought outside his building and forge on ahead. _Here goes_ she thought.

As she walked back into the main room of the restaurant, she was surprised to see Mac at the smaller back table. She smiled and walked over, taking off her coat. He stood to take it from her, hanging it on a nearby hook with his. She on the booth at a right angle to him, but as she did so, her knees knocked into his and they both jerked their legs back from the other. "Oh, sorry." She laughed. He smiled slightly. "It's ok. Maybe we should take the bigger table . . ."

She shook her head. "This is better. The front table would feel like we were on display."

She picked up her menu and glanced over it quickly. "So you've been here before I take it. Any suggestions?"

"The spaghette con cozze is good if you want a pasta dish; or the fish - that's what I'm getting." He offered.

She glanced over at him. "Ok. I'm gonna get a salad too; I'm absolutely starving. You should get something else; you didn't eat any more than I did today. You can't tell me you're not just as hungry."

Mac smiled at that. "Ok. I'll get a salad too. Red wine or white?"

She pursed her lips a moment. "I really prefer red, but isn't the rule that white goes better with seafood?"

"Let's get red if that's what you like.

She raised her eyebrows in feigned awe. "Mac, I would never have guessed you have a rebellious streak in you."

He scoffed. "I wouldn't call ordering red wine with seafood 'rebellious'."

"Well, it's a start anyway."

He looked at her quizzically but the waiter approached so he let it go. They ordered, the waiter gathered the menus and left them.

Jo smiled. "So how are you doing really? You don't seem much different than before the shooting, but I'm wondering if you're just putting on a valiant face."

He shook his head. "No, I'm really feeling pretty good. Sometimes I still experience some pain, especially at the end of the day."

"But emotionally?"

"Jo, I'm fine." She frowned. He rolled his eyes.

"What about Christine?" She pressed on.

"She's fine too. We had coffee last week. She asked about you." Now it was Jo's turn to roll her eyes. "That's not what I meant. I mean how are you dealing with her decision to end it?"

He looked away a moment. He'd known that's where she was heading. "It was for the best, I'm realizing. We were already moving very slowly with the relationship. I told myself we were just being careful, but in retrospect it was more – I think we were both hesitant as to whether we were right for each other and the shooting made it clear, certainly for her, that we weren't."

"And for you?"

"I completely understand her decision. It takes a certain kind of person to be with a cop, or anyone in law enforcement. You know that. She already came from a family of police officers – she knew the risks, the stress, the worry. She wanted to make it work, thought she should be able to, but she realized it was just too much for her right now."

Jo nodded slowly. Mac looked at her. "What about you? Anything new in your life? Ellie enjoying high school this year? Tyler's getting along at college?"

Jo smiled at the mention of her kids. "They're fine – growing up so fast. They're both gone this weekend. So independent now. You know, I was going to plan a trip to Paris over the summer." Mac's eyebrows raised. She continued. "They didn't want to come with me."

His mouth raised in a half smile. "Really? Then I suppose I got shot and you felt you couldn't abandon the Lab and just go by yourself?"

Jo shook her head, causing her necklaces to jingle again and Mac to smile. "No. The dates I wanted to go conflicted with some soccer camp Ellie wanted to go to, and Tyler had just set up a summer internship and didn't want to have to ask for time off." She threw up her hands. "I mean Paris! I'd have given up my driving permit for a year just to go to Paris when I was a kid."

Mac smiled widely. "Jo, you said it yourself, they're just growing up. Tyler's already grown – he's got his own life. And Ellie, she's at that stage where her friends are most important. I remember when I was her age, I would've chosen my friends over a family trip any day."

She smiled. "Yea, you're right. I know. But I'm just not quite ready to be an old divorcee, sitting at home alone every night haunted by memories of her kids back when they loved her."

"Oh please. They still love you. Maybe they just don't need you quite as often anymore. But when they do, you'll know and you'll always be there."

She nodded silently. He continued. "Maybe you should think about what you want in YOUR life and start working on that."

She eyed him a moment, but the waiter appeared with their food and their conversation turned away from the more serious topic of their respective love lives to a comfortable banter about work, family, politics even sports.

Almost two hours later, the waiter finished clearing their dishes. "Oh Mac, that was delicious. Thanks." Jo was feeling great now. A full stomach, enjoyable conversation with Mac, who had truly seemed to be enjoying himself, and a couple glasses of wine had served to move her beyond her earlier funk; she now felt ready for anything and desperately didn't want the evening to end, thinking of her empty apartment and impending long weekend.

The waiter smiled, placing dessert menus on the table. "Dessert? Perhaps to share?"

Mac opened his mouth to decline as Jo did exactly the opposite. They glanced at each other. "Jo, I'm stuffed. I don't think I could eat another bite."

She eyed him playfully. "Mac you have to get dessert when you go out for a nice dinner. It's not about hunger; it's about enjoyment."

He laughed slightly. "I won't be enjoying much if I'm too full to move."

She waved her hand dismissively at him, staring at the menu before her.

His phone buzzed suddenly and he glanced at it. His brow furrowed and he leaned towards her. "I need to take this. But I tell you what. You pick whatever you want and I'll share a bit. And I'll have a tea." And with that, he excused himself, raised his phone to his ear and walked out to take the call.

Mac returned a few minutes later just as the waiter brought their dessert and tea.

Jo glanced up at him. "Everything ok?"

He nodded. "Fine –an old buddy – I'm helping him move his daughter into a new apartment at NYU Sunday. He was just confirming the time."

She picked up her spoon, digging into the chocolate. Her eyes rolled up into her head and Mac laughed. "That good?" "Oh my God, Mac, you have to taste. It's divine." She offered him a bite from her spoon and he took it, nodding his head in agreement.

"You know, chocolate mousse is a poor replacement for a trip to Paris."

He looked at Jo, but she seemed suddenly saddened and his smile faded. He shouldn't have said that. He put his hand over hers on her lap. "You should have just gone to Paris anyway."

She looked down at his hand covering hers. It was warm and felt so right she wished he would just keep it there. "Oh Mac, I didn't want to go alone, that's the point – that's the kind of trip you take with someone you care for, someone to experience the magic with. I would have just been lonely by myself."

He sighed and his finger began caressing her hand very softly. "Jo, ever since you started at the Lab almost three years ago, you've been on my case about my social life. Maybe you need to start working on your own." He knew that perhaps that sounded harsh, but he was coming to realize it was the truth. "When was the last time you went out on a date?"

She looked at him boldly. "Isn't this one?" She knew the wine was bolstering her confidence but she just couldn't help herself.

He paused a moment before replying. He'd initially thought she was just joking, but saw now that she was dead serious. "Do you want it to be?" His voice seemed lower suddenly. His hand was still on hers, calling back to mind the feel of him against her earlier while untangling her necklaces. She stared into his eyes, her heart suddenly thrumming loudly in her chest. She wondered absently if he could hear it.

She leaned towards him slowly, her eyes never leaving his. His hand was still on hers, his finger still stroking hers. He hadn't moved, hadn't reacted in any way and she took this as confirmation that what she was doing was right; or at least what he wanted. She closed the gap between their mouths, barely brushing her lips to his when he suddenly jerked his head away and pulled his hand back from hers.

She gasped at his sudden reaction. Her lips still tingled where they'd made the briefest contact with his and she brought her hand to rest gently on her mouth. She'd gotten only the slightest taste of his lips, a mixture of chocolate and wine and something else that she presumed was just his taste. But it made her want more, more of his lips, more of his touch, more of him. She tried to look in his eyes, but he was looking away. "Mac?" she whispered.

He slid back from her on the booth. "I . . .I uh . . . need to use the bathroom." He stammered, and nearly leapt out of the booth towards the men's room.

**A/N: I know, I know. Patience, patience, please. I promise the next chapter will be up soon – it's almost done anyway. And the rating will be changing to "M" as well. They need to have some fun eventually, right?**

**Also, thanks to everyone who reviewed and alerted and added me to their favorites, etc etc. I really, truly appreciate knowing what you think and it's definitely encouragement to keep going. **


	3. Chapter 3 Second Course: Appetizer

**End of Previous Chapter:**

She leaned towards him slowly, her eyes never leaving his. His hand was still on hers, his finger still stroking hers. He hadn't moved, hadn't reacted in any way and she took this as confirmation that what she was doing was right; or at least what he wanted. She closed the gap between their mouths, barely brushing her lips to his when he suddenly jerked his head away and pulled his hand back from hers.

She gasped at his sudden reaction. Her lips still tingled where they'd made the briefest contact with his and she brought her hand to rest gently on her mouth. She'd gotten only the slightest taste of his lips, a mixture of chocolate and wine and something else that she presumed was just his taste. But it made her want more, more of his lips, more of his touch, more of him. She tried to look in his eyes, but he was looking away. "Mac?" she whispered.

He slid back from her on the booth. "I . . .I uh . . . need to use the bathroom." He stammered, and nearly leapt out of the booth towards the men's room.

**A Nice Dinner 3 – Second Course: Appetizer (Course to sustain the palate while waiting for the main course)**

Mac pushed open the door to the bathroom with such force it hit the wall and knocked a piece of plaster onto the floor. He strode over to the sink, leaning heavily on it. His thoughts were racing, his muscles trembling, his heart felt like it was about to explode. Why the hell had he reacted like that? He pushed off the sink and spun around, wanting to hit something but knowing that wouldn't solve what happened. He ran his fingers through his hair. He needed to think. He turned to the urinal to relieve himself, playing over the last few minutes in his head again and again. He needed to go back out there and talk to her, obviously. He just didn't know what to say. He turned back to the sink and rinsed his hands and face with ice cold water, glaring at himself in the mirror as he did so.

While Mac escaped to the bathroom, Jo had convinced herself how wrong she'd been tonight. Her fantasy was just that - a fantasy - and she should have kept it as such. _Damn that last glass of wine, _she thought. But she knew it was more than that – she'd wanted this so much she'd convinced herself that he did too. The wine had just given her the courage to open up, too much. Now she'd not only wrecked any chance of something between them, but probably their friendship, and his trust, as well.

She flagged down the waiter and shoved her credit card at him. Glancing at the nearly untouched dessert and cups of tea, he sensed something was not right and quickly ran her card, returning with the bill for her to sign. She scrawled her signature, jammed her credit card randomly into her purse and stood up, grabbing her coat and Mac's and walking to the door to wait for him to return so they could leave.

Mac emerged a minute later from the restroom hallway, stopping short when he saw their table empty, the busboy clearing the dishes. For a moment, he feared she'd walked out, but then he noticed her standing by the doorway, his coat draped over her arm. He nodded in her direction and began walking towards her, unable to read the stoic expression on her face. She looked like she did when she was about to question a suspect. She handed him his coat, saying nothing, looking right through his gaze. Now Mac knew exactly how the perps felt when she breezed into interrogation.

They walked outside the restaurant, the door closing softly behind them, lost in their own thoughts. Mac knew he needed to say something, but for the moment, he still hadn't figured out what. And before he could take the time to think more about it, Jo stopped, turning towards him, finally meeting his gaze.

"Look Mac, I'm sorry about what happened in there. I . . ." she paused, clearly struggling with how to phrase this. She waved her hands randomly in the air and sighed. "I'm usually pretty good at reading people, you know. But I guess I wanted so desperately for there to be something between us that I started reading into what was really going on. Obviously I was wrong." She laughed, although halfheartedly. "Everyone makes mistakes, huh?" She trailed off.

Mac furrowed his brow, his eyes downcast. He had hurt her. Damn. That was the last thing he'd wanted to do. He just hadn't seen that coming, and she'd caught him off guard, although in retrospect, it shouldn't have been such a surprise. She'd been pretty forward with him all night; he just wasn't expecting it to move quite that fast. Now, he regretted his rather sudden rebuke of her advances. He'd certainly thought about her "That Way" a few times since she'd begun working with him. In fact, as of late, he'd thought about her like that a bit more than a few times. He couldn't recall ever having met someone that possessed her same mixture of quirkiness, compassion and brazen sexuality. He had to admit he liked it. He liked her. He just wasn't sure yet where he wanted to go with those feelings.

He glanced at her. She was looking down, clearly embarrassed about what had happened.

He reached out and placed his hand under her chin, tilting it upwards so she was forced to look at him. He smiled shyly. "You know, you didn't make a mistake. There is something here, between us. I think I just wasn't quite ready to acknowledge it and I panicked. I'm the one that should be apologizing, not you. It was pretty clear where you were going tonight. But when it happened, I . . . . Well, I guess I just got cold feet. I've never been very good at this, and I'm beginning to think that as I get older, I'm actually getting worse."

She shook her head. "God Mac I'm such an idiot. I was moving way too fast. I mean you just came back to work a few weeks ago. You just broke up with your girlfriend. What the hell was I thinking." She ran her hands through her hair a few times, her bracelets jangling.

"Maybe you weren't. But sometimes that's ok. To be a little bit impulsive. As long as no one gets hurt."

She glanced at him, curious. "But Mac, I clearly hurt you."

He smiled lightly. "No, you didn't hurt me. Just startled me a bit."

They started walking again, turning the corner and approaching the front of his building.

"The kiss felt nice." He murmured softly.

She stopped, smiling up at him. "Want another one?"

A quick laugh escaped from his mouth. "Why don't we go up to my place for a while."

"For another kiss?"

"Jo."

"Well, I did buy you dinner."

"Jo." He rolled his eyes. " Let's just go upstairs."

She smiled sweetly. "I'd like that."

Mac entered the code on the panel and pulled open the door to his building, holding it for her. She breezed by him, glancing up at his face for only an instant, her face unreadable again, then turned her attention to the lobby as she walked towards the elevators.

Mac hesitated slightly in the doorway, marveling at how they had ended up here. He wasn't sure why he'd invited her up. He knew he couldn't just leave things as they were. But now that they were actually going up to his apartment, he wasn't exactly sure where they were headed. For just a talk? Maybe a nightcap? Or even something more? And did he really want things to progress in that direction? He had to admit to himself, he wasn't exactly against the idea. In fact, he was pretty sure his response to each of those possibilities was a resounding yes. He just wasn't sure it was the right response or that now was the right time.

He glanced up to see Jo holding open one of the elevators for him. She had that impatient look about her so he decided any further dissection of the impending evening would have to happen, well, as it happened. He nodded and moved quickly towards her, mumbling a thanks as he entered and pressing the button to the fourth floor. She stood in the opposite corner of the elevator, eyeing him with an amused glint in her eyes.

He smiled crookedly at her. "I know what you're doing. You're thinking about re-enacting the scene from the garage elevator earlier, the couple kissing?" he quipped.

She smiled, albeit a sultry one. "Hmmm, maybe. But if we did, and someone else entered the elevator right now, I'm not sure I'd be able pull away."

She began to move towards him, her eyes on his the entire time. He had the impression of a cheetah stalking its prey. She stopped directly in front of him, reached out her hand, stroked his hair, his cheek, his neck, and then his chest, through the cotton of his shirt.

Mac wanted oh so badly to respond; his body, or at least certain parts of his body, wanted him to respond. But he hesitated. No, he froze. On the spot. He couldn't move if he'd had to. Jo finally realized she was going at this solo and took a step back to look at him, her eyebrows raised, one hand falling to her side, the other paused mid caress on his chest.

"Mac, are you ok?"

He cleared his throat. "Uhhh." Ok, that was no response to her question. He took a breath and tried again. "Jo, I . . ." He swallowed. This was not going well. One more time. "Look, I really . . ."

The elevator pinged, signaling their imminent arrival at Mac's floor. He let out a small laugh, more out of nervousness than the humour in the situation. The doors opened and Jo withdrew her hand from Mac's shirt. She took his hand gently and led him out of the elevator and up to his doorway. "Why don't we go in . . ." Mac got his keys from his pocket. ". . . have a seat . . ." Mac opened the door and motioned with a nod of his head for her to enter. "We can have a drink. . ." she paused and smiled ever so slightly, "doesn't need to be alcohol. I'm really not trying to get you drunk." The corners of his mouth tugged upwards.

Happy to see some sort of positive reaction from him, she entered and turned to watch him as he moved to close his door. She continued. "We can talk about what exactly we're doing here, if you'd like. I know you're not the impulsive type and I've been the definition of the word tonight. So maybe we can find some happy middle ground."

Jo was now standing a few feet inside the entryway, watching as Mac methodically closed the door, locked it and engaged the deadbolt. He paused, an inner turmoil brewing inside him. Damn, of course he wanted this, her, them. He'd wanted it for a long time now. He'd already admitted that to himself. He just had to accept that it was the right course of action, even if maybe it wasn't the most prudent. He had just told her that sometimes it was ok not to think too much; to just follow your feelings. To just ACT.

She spoke, startling him. "So, what exactly are we doing Mac?" Her tone soft but serious. He turned around slowly towards her, his mind made up.

Jo was about to offer to make some tea when his gaze shot up to hold her own. Her eyes widened and she couldn't help but gasp slightly – his eyes were dark, smoky, the lids heavy, the blackness of his pupils threatening to drown out their usual luminescent blue. _Just the darkness of the hall_, she tried to tell herself, _that's all_. But there was something else behind that look. Jo recognized it, although she hadn't seen it directed towards herself for quite a while. Pure desire. Lust. Need. A combination of all three. Did it really matter which?

His hand, which had remained clasping the deadbolt even after engaging it, fell to his side with a slap. He opened his mouth. "We're doing something we probably should have done a long time ago, Jo." His voice was rough, almost gravelly, and her body trembled at the sound, the sudden change in his attitude. Her breath caught in her throat as he launched himself towards her, covering the few feet separating them in a breath.

Mac reached out, grasped either side of Jo's face gently but firmly in his hands and leaned towards her, his lips brushing hers, then retreating slightly, testing out her reaction, before going any further. His forearms leaned against her shoulders, exerting just enough pressure to back her against the wall without causing her to lose her balance.

His right hand slowly curved around her head until it tangled in the back of her hair, caressing the nape of her neck there, lovingly, languidly. She had pressed her lips pressed back against his, albeit somewhat chastely, their tongues having made no effort to leave the warmth of their mouths. A moment later, she parted her own lips, whether because she needed to breathe better or because she wanted to taste more of him, she wasn't even sure. But the moment her lips separated, his tongue lashed out insistently, thrusting through them and exploring every part of her mouth, her tongue, her teeth, back to her lips.

She groaned slightly as his left hand trailed gradually down from her cheek to her neck, and began gently stroking the skin under her necklaces, grazing but not quite fully touching the top of her cleavage. Just like before in her office. She shuddered at that memory, feeling a bud of warmth take root and blossom in her core. Suddenly, he drew his lips from hers a moment, their foreheads touching, his eyes looking directly into hers. She nearly moaned at the absence of his mouth on hers. "Oh God, don't stop," she rasped.

He stroked the skin under her necklaces one more time. "Just checking for spiders . . ." he said, his tone dead serious, but a slight glint appearing in his eyes.

"Mac," she half sighed, half laughed in response. She took a shaky breath. "If there's a spider anywhere on me, it'd best get the hell out of the way or it's about to get squashed." And her arms, which had been hanging, stunned, at her sides, suddenly sprung back to life, gripping Mac's shoulders and pushing him back against the door behind him.

"What, you don't like to relinquish control?" His voice was low, measured, but his lips were quivering in a near smile.

"No, I don't mind not being in control, but now . . . it's my turn," she replied in a sultry drawl. She pressed her whole body against his, feeling the full length of his arousal pressing back against her. She smiled to herself. "Excited?" She whispered, sucking slowly on his earlobe.

"You have no idea," he replied, his voice low, raw.

"Oh, I think I do." She held his gaze, daring him to look away. He breathed in sharply as she pressed her hip against his erection. Her hand reached out to caress his cheek. She could feel the roughness from the early growth of his beard and she stroked it once, twice, before curling her hand around to the back of his head, urging him ever closer to her. She began kissing him, softly, her tongue pushing gently past his teeth. Taking her time with the kiss. Exploring. Her other hand alternated between slowly stroking his chest and stopping every few seconds to undo one of his shirt buttons. Taking her sweet time with every movement.

Mac, on the other hand, was fighting for control. Two minutes in and his body was already screaming for release. The moment she'd first pressed her curves against his hardness, he'd been fighting a losing battle against his body's more primal needs. He was trying, so hard, to follow her lead. To move slowly, take it gently. Because his brain was telling him that was what he should do, what he was supposed to do here. Shit, he'd run away before because she moved too fast for him. But now, his body was telling him to flip her back around and take her, fully clothed, standing against the wall if he had to, right here, right now. Because deep down, that was what he needed. It had just been way too long.

Suddenly, she shifted slightly, her hip bone grinding forcefully against him. His hips bucked involuntarily, his body craving the increased stimulation against his groin. Jo felt it and broke their kiss, moving back slightly; she looked up at him, eyes heavy with desire. A desire she could see reflected back in his eyes ten fold. "What do you say we move out of the entryway?" She whispered.

Mac breathed a silent sigh of relief and let his hands drop slowly from her back. Just a little break, a little separation, to let him regain some level of control. "Come here," he croaked, his voice heavy and out of breath. He reached for her hand and pulled her through his office area, past the mezzanine and into the hallway towards his bedroom. She nearly had to jog to keep up with him.

As they entered the bedroom, Mac slowed slightly, his hand still intertwined with hers. She was a bit overwhelmed by his sudden change in attitude, but she was anything but disappointed by it. She glanced quickly around his room, trying to get her bearings - she'd never been this far back in his apartment before. The bedroom was large, tastefully decorated in muted, earthy tones, with two big windows, what she assumed was a closet, and an attached bathroom. The thought crossed her mind that perhaps she should avail herself of it before they got any further along, when suddenly Mac spun her around so that her back was to the bed. He looked deeply into her eyes, that same, barely contained look of desire radiating from them. "Is this really what you want?" He asked her, his voice husky, dripping with need.

She let out a slow, ragged breath. "Oh God, yes Mac. For so long. . . ."

He interrupted before she could finish. "Good, because once I fully commit to something, I don't like to turn back." And he assaulted her with a punishing kiss.

His hands scooped under the shoulders of her coat and down her arms, dragging the jacket off, letting it drop to the foot of the bed. Still maintaining the brutal contact between their lips, his hands fell to her waistband, deftly undoing her belt, loosening the button on her jeans and tugging her t-shirt out and up over her torso. As he lifted it above her chest, he slowed, allowing his hands a moment to cup both her ample breasts through the lace of her bra. He could feel her nipples, already hard, underneath. His thumbs peeled back the fabric of her bra on both sides and he lowered his mouth a moment to suckle one, then the other nub. _My God, _she thought_, this is so much better than any fantasy._

Jo, her head thrown back, a look of pure passion on her face, her arms clutching at his back, suddenly felt herself losing her balance. Mac, his full concentration on her breasts, realized too late that their center of balance was joined and heading on a collision course with the bed. He managed to support her somewhat with his hand while spinning his body sideways slightly so that he didn't fall completely on top of her. They both hit the bed simultaneously, Mac with a stifled groan and Jo with a gasp. Mac, concerned that perhaps she'd hurt herself, immediately extricated his hand from behind her and propped himself up on one elbow, worry etched on his face.

"Far fou fo-kay?" He spat out, trying to speak but realizing that a lock of her hair was stuck to his tongue. Jo began laughing uncontrollably and reached out a shaking hand to pull it out of his mouth.

He grinned. "I take it you're ok?" She sat up on the bed, legs draped over the side, trying to regain control. She let out one more laugh before suddenly turning serious. "What about you – that must have hurt?" The concern in her features led him to understand that she was referring to his injuries from the shooting.

He shook his head. "I'm fine don't worry – it's gonna take more than a fall onto the bed to aggravate anything that happened so many months ago." She didn't look convinced, but she wasn't able to continue as he started chuckling.

She followed his gaze, which was directed to her, and realized she looked pretty absurd at the moment. Her jeans partly undone, her t-shirt rolled up under her armpits, one side of her bra still pushed down revealing most of her breast and one amazingly pert, rosy nipple. She reached out and slapped his arm playfully. "This is all your work, mister. You gonna continue or leave me hanging?"

He smiled seductively, reaching out with both hands and gently lifting her t-shirt over her arms and head.

She reciprocated, unbuttoning the remaining button on his shirt and sliding it off, followed by his undershirt. She reached out her fingers and ever so softly traced the large scar from his surgery, from his lower chest to below his naval.

She knew there would be one in back as well, where the bullet entered, but she couldn't bring herself to think about that at the moment.

She leaned in to him and before her lips touched his, she whispered, "I'm so glad you're here right now."

He wasn't sure if she meant that literally, in that he was in the room with her, or in the more figurative sense that he'd survived the shooting. But as her hands trailed down from his scar to the waistband of his pants, he realized he didn't really care anymore which she'd meant.

They deepened their kiss and Mac's hand reached behind her head, toying with the silkiness of her hair, pushing her even closer to him. Jo's hands, still at his waistband, began to unclasp Mac's belt and unbutton his trousers. As she fumbled slightly with the zipper, her hand brushed against his groin, causing a sharp intake of his breath and his eyes to roll backwards. She was having trouble with the zipper in his seated position and the constant movement of her hands there was driving him insane. He finally broke the kiss and stood up, quickly divesting himself of his pants and shoes seemingly in one swift movement.

He stood before her, clad only in his boxers, the bulge of his erection directly in front of her. He looked down at her, her lips swollen a deep red from their kiss, her eyes a deep obsidian, her raven hair messy from when his hands were tangled in it just a few moments ago. He could feel the desire coursing through his body, feel himself growing even harder as he thought of what they were about to do. He reached out and pushed her shoulders back slightly. "Lie down," he whispered, and he leaned over her to finish undoing her jeans. She propped herself up on her elbows and lifted her hips, allowing him to slowly roll the jeans down her legs and finally slide off her shoes.

He moved to climb onto the bed but before he could, she sat up suddenly and sank her hands into the waistband of his boxers, pushing them down over his hips, his member springing to attention as the elastic slipped over and off it. As the material fell to the floor he stepped out of them and tried to meet her gaze, but she was looking at his body, directly in front of her. She licked her lips slightly and he had an idea of what she was about to do. As enticing as that image was to him right now, he feared it would result in a very short first encounter.

She reached out and touched him, tentatively at first, then gripping him more solidly, but before she could lean forward and bring him to her mouth, he placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her again back onto the bed. "Another time," he whispered into her ear, as he lay down beside her and snaked his hands around to her back, finally removing her bra and tossing it aside.

Mac pushed himself up with his arms, hovering over her a moment, taking in her beauty. He knelt back, freeing his arms to slowly caress her from her neck, over her breasts, down to her belly button and his thumbs latched round the lace of her underwear. In one smooth movement, as if choreographed by a master, she lifted her hips just as he dragged her underwear down and off her feet, letting it drop off the bed and join the rest of their clothing on the floor. He turned back to her. God she was beautiful. And oh did he want her. Without even realizing, he reached down, stroking his length once, then twice, before he moved nearer to her.

Jo watched, mesmerized. She wasn't sure she'd ever seen anything so naturally sexy as what she'd just witnessed. She spread her legs ever so slightly, signaling to him not at all subtly that she was ready. He nestled himself between her legs, gazing deeply into her eyes, his heart pounding in his chest. He gripped the base of his arousal and, moving down slightly, placed it just at her entrance. She blew a breath of air out and her eyes closed in anticipation. "Now Mac, please. I need to feel you," she murmured, almost inaudibly. One of her hands grabbed his shoulder, the other his bottom, trying to pull him inside her.

Mac removed his hand, placing it on the bed next to her. His heart was on the verge of exploding in his chest, he could hear the blood rushing in his ears. Her nails were beginning to graze the skin on his back and just as he tensed, preparing to enter her, her eyes shot open suddenly. "Wait, Mac, oh my God. I almost forgot." She was breathing heavily. "We need a condom."

He heard her talking but couldn't quite focus on the meaning of the words. Every muscle in his body was taut, ready to plunge inside of her. "Wait Mac, stop." She repeated, a bit louder this time. Her hands dropped from his backside and came around to push slightly against his chest instead.

The word 'stop' had filtered through the fog surrounding his brain and he opened his eyes. "What?" He barely managed to form the word, his chest heaving against her touch.

"Condom." She repeated, sliding her body up the bed slightly, breaking the contact between their most intimate parts.

_Oh shit._ He thought.

**A/N: Thank you again for all your wonderful reviews. They make my day! Will update as soon as I can – the story seems to be taking over my life and my "To-Do" list is beginning to rival the story's word count, so it may be a couple days but I'll do my best.**


	4. Chapter 4 Third Course: Main Dish

**End of Previous Chapter:**

He heard her talking but couldn't quite focus on the meaning of the words. Every muscle in his body was taut, ready to plunge into her. "Wait, Mac, stop." She repeated, a bit louder this time.

The word 'stop' filtered through the haze surrounding his brain and he opened his eyes. "What?" He barely managed to form the word, his erection throbbing, urging him to bury himself inside her warmth.

"Condom." She repeated, sliding her body up the bed slightly, breaking the contact between their most intimate parts.

_Oh shit._ He thought.

**A Nice Dinner 4 – Third Course: Main Dish (The gastronomic apex or climax of the meal serving to satisfy and delight the palate)**

Mac drew in a few breaths, trying to regain his composure. "Jo." He was panting so fast, he had to stop a moment. He swallowed hard. "I'm sorry, I don't have any. I wasn't exactly anticipating the need tonight . . ."

Jo squeezed her eyes shut a moment and sat up. She opened them to see him at the foot of the bed now, kneeling back to rest on his feet, his erection already waning. She covered her face with her hands. "Oh God Mac, I'm so sorry for wrecking the moment. I got all caught up and wasn't thinking. About protection I mean. It's been a little while. Or a long while. Guess I'm out of practice." She removed her hands, smiling timidly at him, then seemed to regain some of her composure. "It's just, I'm not SO over the hill that the possibility of still getting pregnant doesn't exist . . ."

He smiled back at her. "Of course you're not over the hill. And you didn't wreck the moment." She snorted. "Well, ok, maybe you did a little bit there. But you were just being prudent. At least one of us was." He smiled ruefully and paused a moment. "Unfortunately, I AM over the hill enough to have stopped carrying around spare rubbers in my wallet a while ago."

She laughed softly at that. "Ah, so Mac Taylor did have a wild and raucous youth, back in the day, huh . . ."

He raised his eyebrows and climbed up the bed to sit next to her, pulling the sheet over them both as he did so. "I'm not sure wild and raucous would be the right description, but yes, I'll have you know, on occasion I even carried two in my wallet – just on the off chance I got really lucky."

She glanced at him sideways, trying to figure out if he was just being funny or if he was telling the truth. She wasn't sure and simply laid her head back on the pillow, sighing. "Oh to be young again, carefree . . . "

He meant to laugh, but it came out more as a choke. "I'm not sure I miss it so much. Young, carefree, Uncertain, Angry, Careless. Lots of words can describe youth, not all of them something I'd miss." His reminiscing made him think of Reed and some of his youthful exploits, which suddenly triggered another memory. His brow furrowed.

"Wait." He said, and lurched from the bed, heading into the bathroom. He grabbed his robe from the hook and slipped his arms through, not bothering to tie it. He wasn't so sure he was all that comfortable with his nudity now that they weren't in the heat of passion. Jo sat straight up and threw the sheet off her body, concerned. She thought perhaps he was ill. "Mac, are you ok?"

She heard him rummaging around in the bathroom and rose from the bed, quietly approaching the half closed door. "Mac?" She reached the handle and was just about to carefully push it when the door suddenly flew open. There stood Mac, a goofy half smile on his face, the untied robe revealing everything that it was really meant to cover, and in his hand, held aloft as if it were the golden ticket out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, was a small square foil packet.

Jo just looked at him. "Mac Taylor, you tease. You probably knew that was there all along. Just saving it in case someone worthy crossed your doorstep?"

"Yeah, and it's been such a tough decision given the continual parade of eligible women that enter my bedroom at all hours of the day," he scoffed. He glanced over at her with a tiny glint in his eye. "Actually Reed, Claire's son, stayed in my apartment for a couple days a few years back, when I went to Greece to find Stella. I found it under the guest bed when I got back. Figured I'd stash it away, put it in an old toiletry bag of my dad's. Honestly, I'd forgotten about it until just now. It even moved apartments with me."

Jo looked at him askance. "You thought you'd just 'stash it away.' Like I said, just in case someone worthy crossed your door."

He ignored her, examining the label intently, squinting his eyes. "Trying to see the expiration date."

"Oh for Christ's sake, give that to me. You need to get some glasses." She stepped closer to him and grabbed the condom package from his hand, holding it under the dim bathroom lamp. He couldn't help but gaze at her body – she seemed to have no qualms whatsoever about being naked in front of him. She didn't even seem to notice. She was just so incredibly sexy. His mind started to wander back to a few minutes ago on the bed, when she interrupted his thoughts. "Hmmm," she mumbled and glanced at her watch. It was nearly midnight all ready.

She looked directly in Mac's eyes. "October 11 this year." He furrowed his eyebrows. "That's tomorrow, right?"

Jo smirked. "That's in 10 minutes honey. We better get movin'."

"I really doubt one day will make a difference; it's not like . . ." he began but was cut off suddenly as she grabbed his wrist and pulled him back into the bedroom towards the bed.

He stopped suddenly. Jo, still gripping his hand in hers, was sharply spun around to face him. She glanced up at him. "What's wrong? Cold feet?" She sighed. "Again? Really, Mac."

He shook his head slightly. "No, not that. We're just going to have to backtrack a little, I think," he began shyly, glancing down unintentionally at his flaccid member. "Rummaging around in the depths of my bathroom cabinets wasn't the most scintillating aspect of this whole evening."

Jo eyed him a moment, "Well I certainly hope that I was." But before he could respond, a sultry look came over her eyes. She let go of his hand a moment, walked over to the night stand to set down the condom packet and slowly moved back until she was standing only a few inches from him. "But I think I know of something that might get you back on track," and, still holding his gaze, she suddenly dropped to her knees in front of him, startling him completely.

She reached out with her right hand and grasped him, her head moving slowly towards him. Mac, looked down at the top of her head, feeling as if he was watching from afar. He shuddered involuntarily, his breath suddenly caught in his throat. Of course, he knew exactly where she was going; she'd already tried it once tonight. It was so tempting just to let it happen. But given his earlier level of excitement, he feared that if she continued on this course, it would end up being the beginning, middle and end of their evening all rolled up into one very short first encounter. So he managed to grasp onto the single remaining fiber of reason left in his body and backed away slightly from her, placing his hand under her chin at the same time and gently urging her upwards.

"No, Jo, not this time." She rose slowly, a questioning look on her face. He reached out and stroked her cheek, tucking an errant lock of hair behind her ear. He continued. "Too impersonal."

She looked at him oddly. "You think sucking someone's co. . ." she stumbled over her word choice, thinking he might not appreciate such a slang term right now. She cleared her throat. ". . .is impersonal?"

"Well, I can't say I personally have any experience 'sucking someone's cock'. . ." He caught her blush as he finished her earlier phrase. Then he added ". . . but from my point of view, as the recipient, there's no emotional connection – you're down there, I'm up here and. . ."

She interrupted. "So you don't like blow jobs?" Her eyes challenging him.

He sighed, exasperated. "I didn't say that. Of course I like them."

Her hands found her hips and planted themselves defiantly there. "But just not from me." She glared at him, her eyes resembling those of a basilisk.

"JO." She was completely flustered at this point, reminding Mac of her behavior earlier in her office when he'd told her she had a spider on her. He reached out his hands and placed them on her shoulders, just as he had before, in an attempt to calm her down.

"Jo." He continued, more calmly this time. "I would love for you to do that for me sometime. I'm just trying to say that our first time, I want to be joined with you everywhere, not just your mouth around . . . that part of me." He took a moment to slide off his robe, standing before her completely nude. Her hands fell from her hips back to her sides.

He took a step towards her. His voice was soft and low. "You see, I want my hand in your hair, just like this." He reached out, caressing her soft waves, brushing them back from her forehead, her cheeks, finally curving around to the back of her head to trace small circles at the nape of her neck. Her eyelids fluttered and eventually closed as she leaned her head slightly into the support of his hand.

"I want my other hand on your breasts, like this." He reached out again, tracing down her cleavage slowly, deliberately, with his fingers, dipping first to trace around her left breast then back up to do the same around her right breast. He cupped each, in turn, gently in his palm, marveling at their firmness, their heaviness. He then moved his hand inward, gently massaging first one nipple, then the other, feeling them harden in response. He heard a soft moan escape her lips.

"I want your hands, your nails raking across my back while you murmur my name." He moved his hands to her collarbone, trailing them back over her shoulders, slowly down the length of her back, until they reached the smooth curve of her bottom. She could feel the rough skin of his fingers trailing over her sensitive skin. The thought entered her head that it was somewhat reminiscent of fine sandpaper, but rather than creating an uncomfortable sensation, it was causing goose bumps to rise up across her skin as if every pore in her body were being awakened by his touch.

With both hands snaking around to rest on her hips, he pulled her rather forcefully closer to him, causing her to gasp. "I want my mouth on yours, my tongue touching yours." And his mouth descended upon her lips, his tongue pushing inside without waiting for her to open for him. Her hands scrabbled at his back, up to his neck, finally finding a purchase in the short, slightly curly hair at the base of his skull. She pulled his head even closer to hers, her lips pressed against his mouth in a bruising response.

When he could no longer breathe, he finally pulled back slightly from her mouth to whisper next to her ear. "And most importantly, I wanna be buried inside you, as far as I can reach, so when you climax, I can feel your body caressing my whole length, pulling me harder, deeper, inside you, until I finally come crashing over the edge, in your arms."

Her body shuddered. "Ohhh, my God, Mac," was all she could manage for the moment, as he leaned closer again, gently kissing the tender skin on her neck just below her ear. "I want you here with me, all of me," he whispered softly, continuing to nibble first her neck, then her collarbone and finally the skin just above her breast.

He dipped further, lathing her cleavage with his tongue. Her hands reached out, stroking down his taut body from his chest, to his sides to his stomach and further down, just missing where he so wanted to feel her hand, her touch, anything at this point. She pressed against him slightly, feeling his body responding against her leg, and the vibration from his throaty groan just against her left breast only served to confirm that that condom was going to come in handy any minute now.

She cradled his head against her breast. "Ok, Mac, you convinced me." Her voice barely more than a breath against his forehead. "We'll wait on the blow job. Let's stop talking and lie down."

He grinned slightly and gently led her onto the bed. He let her lie down first on her back then climbed in next to her, against her side. He leaned in and kissed her softly, his mouth then trailing downwards, first licking her neck, her collarbone, then devoting equal attention to each of her breasts. He could feel her body quivering at his touch and he slowly snaked his right hand down her side, over her hip, across to her belly button and then further south. He was just curious . . .

His fingers trailed down through the small mound of coarse hair there, and then, as if teasing her, slid across and down to her inner thigh, barely avoiding her swollen center. He hadn't even touched her most private region, yet already he could feel her arousal on the skin of her inner thighs - she was slick with moisture, with wetness there. For him. He groaned and slid down the bed slightly, his head nearing her middle.

She shuddered but still managed to prop herself up onto her elbows, looking down at him between her legs. "Hey, no fair. You wouldn't let me . . ."

He grinned up at her, his eyes sparkling. "Just a taste. I promise I'll be right back."

She rolled her eyes, but quickly sunk back onto the bed as his tongue slipped across her outer lips, once, twice, then delved further inside. He found her small bud and stroked it with his tongue a few times before placing his lips over it and sucking, first softly, then with more force, more passion. He knew he should probably stop, but he couldn't bring himself to move away.

She felt small waves of warmth begin to spread out from her core. Damn, another minute like that and she was going to explode. Her body was quaking in response to his touch, so close to the edge. But he was right, this was not how she wanted their first time to be. She grabbed onto his head, his hair and pulled him back up to her. As his body slid up hers, she could feel his hardness pressing demandingly against her thigh, threatening to slip between her legs, and she pulled away from him slightly. "Now Mac, I need you now, inside me." She reached over and grabbed the condom package, ripping it open with her teeth.

As Mac sat up slightly over her, he couldn't help but grin as he watched her tear open the foil package and remove the condom, preparing to slide it over his arousal.

"A skill you perfected during your days as a cheerleader?"

She stopped suddenly, looking up and glaring daggers at him, her mouth twisted into a frown. "If you want this evening to continue, Mac Taylor, I seriously suggest that you start remembering your manners."

He smiled innocently. "I'm just kidding with you." He was actually hoping a bit of humor would mask his discomfort in having her put the condom on him. Strangely enough, that was not something he'd experienced previously.

She eyed him suspiciously but then her frown slowly morphed into a wide grin. "I'll have you know that the person who first explained to me how to do this was actually my older sister."

Mac cocked his eyebrows. "Ok, that's a story I need to hear. . ." she reached out and touched him, preparing the condom, ". . . but not now."

She smirked, placing the condom against his tip and rolling it, achingly slowly, over his erection. His body quivered in anticipation and when she finally finished, he looked across to her, his eyelids heavy, his mouth slightly parted, his breath ragged. "Did I get it right?" She asked, with a wink.

Mac merely smiled, pushing her back down onto the bed and moving over her. Her legs were now together and he inserted one of his knees between them, pushing one of her legs to the side so that he could settle his body there.

Mac was poised between her legs, just staring at her a moment. He reached down and gripped the base of his erection, placed himself at her entrance and looked her in the eyes. She returned his gaze, silently begging him to begin. She couldn't remember how many times she had dreamed about this, but now, she felt shy, uncertain of what she should be doing. She simply waited for him to take the initiative.

Somewhat surprised at her sudden timidity, he moved slowly to plant a kiss on her mouth. Then he began pushing slowly into her. She moaned slightly, which he took as a positive sign, and continued, not stopping to allow her to grow accustomed to him, but moving gradually enough that it really wasn't necessary. She was so wet already, so ready for him. She sucked in her breath and held it a moment. Once he felt resistance, he paused, hovering above her, then began a slow, pulsing rhythm in and out.

Jo felt her body reawakening as he moved inside her. Her initial shyness dissipating, she closed her eyes and reached her arms around him, first stroking his strong back gently with her fingertips. Then, as her confidence built, and she recalled his earlier words, she curved her fingers, her nails scraping ever so softly over his flesh. Mac moaned into her ear. "More. Harder." Her nails grated over his skin harder, faster, until she was sure she had drawn blood.

Mac's lips, trembling from the sensation of her nails on his back, skimmed over her lips, her cheek, her neck. He opened his mouth and suckled gently on the skin just above her shoulder. But as his arousal grew, he feared his ability to continue gently was lost and he pulled his face back from her, afraid he might somehow hurt her.

Jo could feel the barely restrained desire coursing through his body, could see the tendons in his neck sticking out like cords, the muscles in his arms taught and rippling, could hear the way his breath seethed through his gritted teeth.

She ran her hands smoothly now down his backside, pressing against his bottom, trying to move him further into her, faster into her. He didn't respond. He only kept up the slow, methodic rhythm he'd been in since first entering her.

She groaned loudly, pushing her hips up to meet his, trying to increase the pace. Increase the pressure. But he still didn't respond.

Finally she turned her head slightly, her breath hot on his ear. "Mac, you're holding back. Don't. Everything you're feeling inside right now, I wanna feel inside me. Just let go. For me. Please." The last few words were no more than a whisper. She felt rather than heard Mac let out a long, pent up breath. He drew back slightly from her face, his eyes molten. Still watching her, he pulled back slowly, nearly withdrawing completely and then, with no warning other than the languid closing of his eyes, he plunged deeply into her.

Jo gasped at the sudden response, pushing her hips up against him, grinding across him. Mac felt all the need, all the desire, all the passion he had buried over the past few years come to the surface in one massive wave. And he let himself go.

Mac was so close now, he wasn't sure he was going to be able to hold out. He felt as if his body was on fire. Jo was keeping pace with him, but he wasn't sure she was as close to her climax as he was. He'd been trying so hard to restrain himself, at least until she peaked. But her earlier encouragement to just let go had broken down his defenses, and now he didn't think he could slow down for anything.

He lifted up and paused in his rhythm, allowing his left hand to slip between their bodies and come to rest just above where they were so intimately connected. He moved it slightly until his hand was positioned directly above her center. Then he resumed.

The next time as Mac buried himself into her, Jo gasped and her eyes flew open. He looked down at her, searching for any sign that perhaps he had hurt her, or that she was somehow uncomfortable, but he saw nothing but pure passion on her face. She moved her body slightly, increasing the pressure from his hand against her most sensitive spot and gasped again, as she felt her desire building in her center at a frightening pace.

"Oh, Jesus, Mac, don't stop. Harder." She gripped the sheets around her, her knuckles pale with the effort.

He continued moving fast and hard into her, his hand still providing just the extra stimulation she needed. He looked into her eyes, seeing the first sign of her impending release. And as her climax finally exploded, rippling out in waves from her center, she cried out his name.

Mac felt her muscles contracting against him, around him. He removed his hand and with one more thrust he felt his balls tighten, his breath catch in his throat and with a serious of throaty groans, his orgasm crashed through him.

Mac lay atop her for a moment after, breathing heavily. He knew he should roll off her, that he would be feeling heavy to her by now, but he wasn't sure he could even bring himself to move. He felt his arousal begin to wane and knew he needed to pull out now, before the condom became pointless.

He rolled down from her body onto his side, gripping the condom and removing it, wrapping it in a tissue from the side table and leaving it there for now. He turned her so that she was facing him. He reached out and wrapped his arms around her and she nestled into his embrace, her head under his chin.

He smiled softly, suddenly a bit shy. "You ok?"

"Mmmm." Was all she managed in response.

Mac reached down and pulled the sheet over their bodies. They lay together in calm silence for a few minutes when Jo's body shivered suddenly. "Hey," he whispered. "You're cold. You want me to get a t-shirt for you?"

Jo shook her head. "I'm not cold. Just an aftershock." He laughed softly and caressed her hair. A minute later she shivered once more, this time more strongly.

"Jo, you're freezing. Let me get you a shirt." And he moved to get up, but her arms gripped him strongly, keeping him next to her.

"No, no, Mac, it's ok. I'm not cold." She chuckled slightly. "I just really have to go to the bathroom."

Mac pulled his head back slightly so he could see her face, a look of amused incomprehension on his own. "Well, so go; it's right there. You know where it is."

She gazed at him, her face looking a bit sheepish. "I don't want to ever get up; I want to stay right here. It feels so nice Mac."

Mac laughed and placed a soft kiss on her forehead, then opened his arms. "Go. I'm not leaving. I'll be right here when you come back."

She crawled reluctantly over him and out of bed, grabbing up the wrapped condom to dispose of it and walked the few steps to the bathroom. Mac lay staring at the ceiling, somewhat in awe of everything that had happened tonight. A few minutes later she returned and he opened his arms for her.

She sighed contentedly, burrowing back into his warmth. "Oh Mac, it's so nice to go to bed in someone's arms. I've missed that."

He kissed her shoulder ever so lightly. "I know."

Within a few minutes, he felt her breathing slow, her chest rise and fall more regularly under his arm, her head lean more heavily into his chin and he knew she was sound asleep. He smiled to himself. And the last thing he remembered, before succumbing to sleep himself was the feel of her soft skin as he stroked her arm lovingly with his finger.

**A/N: Thanks again for reading. I realize this was just one long love scene, but then I guess my goal with this story wasn't particularly plot development ;) It's not quite over yet. A couple more chapters should get me where I'm hoping to go with this. **


	5. Chapter 5 Fourth Course: Dessert

**A/N: Sorry this is so long but I couldn't find a good place to cut it. **

**Also, there is a small reference to the new Batman movie towards the end – I'd already written it before the terrible tragedy at opening night in Colorado, US – I considered taking it out, but finally decided to just leave it . . .**

**End of Previous Chapter:**

She sighed contentedly, burrowing back into his warmth. "Oh Mac, it's so nice to go to bed in someone's arms. I've missed that."

He kissed her shoulder ever so lightly. "I know."

Within a few minutes, he felt her breathing slow, her chest rise and fall more regularly under his arm, her head lean more heavily into his chin and he knew she was sound asleep. He smiled to himself. And the last thing he remembered, before succumbing to sleep himself, was the feel of her soft skin as he stroked her arm lovingly with his finger.

**A Nice Dinner 5 – Fourth Course: Dessert (A course typically coming at the end of a meal generally serving to sweeten the palate)**

Shortly after 7 a.m. the next morning, the first rays of sunshine broke through the windows of Mac's bedroom, gently warming his cheek and causing his eyelids to flutter. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered whether he'd left the shades open last night and whether any of his neighbors had been witness to their coupling last night. He pushed the thought away, forcing his eyes to stay closed, trying to savor the moment.

He could feel Jo's warm body still nestled into the curve of his own, he could still faintly taste her on his lips, he could smell her own intoxicating fragrance, mingled with the scent of their union last night, and he smiled softly. He felt other parts of his body begin to awaken and he shifted back slightly. That was not really what he wanted right now, despite his body's reaction to the contrary.

Opening his eyes, he looked at her beauty. Her face looked like a child's – completely at peace in her slumber. Her hair completely disheveled, whether from sleep or their activities last night, or perhaps both, he wasn't certain. There was a slight black smudge under her eyes, from her eye make-up. He realized with regret that he had never even offered her a washcloth or toothbrush last night in case she'd wanted to wash up.

He glanced over at the clock on his bedside table – he couldn't recall the last time he'd slept that late. Turning back to the bed, he noticed that the sheet had tangled around her knees during the night and he let his gaze wander over the length of her body. He lay there for nearly a half an hour, staring at her unabashedly, until the morning urge to relieve himself took precedence and he quietly slipped out of bed.

Approaching the bathroom, he grabbed his robe from the floor and suddenly decided to detour to the hall bathroom instead, to avoid the possibility of waking her.

After finishing, he padded quietly through his apartment to the kitchen just to check if by chance he had anything he could make them for breakfast.

He opened the fridge and closed it mere seconds later. He'd not expected to find anything; he couldn't recall the last time he'd been out grocery shopping. They'd have to go out.

He made his way back to the bedroom. She was still sound asleep so he shrugged off his robe and gently climbed back into bed beside her. He tried untangling the covers from her legs, but was unable to so he grabbed the bedspread instead and pulled it over them. Despite his efforts not to wake her, his movements wrangling the covers had caused enough of a disturbance that she began to stir.

Still half asleep, Jo gradually became aware of a body pressed into hers, felt an arm draped heavily over her, sensed someone's breath on her neck. Her first thought was Russ. _No, that was a long time ago_. Her conscious mind, still dim from the fog of sleep, allowed some of her more primal memories begin to escape to the surface. _John Curtis . . ._

She gasped, jerking suddenly awake, then realized it was Mac holding her lovingly in his bed. The more pleasant memories of last night flooded her brain and she relaxed back into the pillow, her breathing calming again almost as quickly as it had spun out of control. "Oh Mac, you surprised me for a minute."

"Forget who you were sleeping with?" He quipped, jokingly, but one look at her face and he realized that she had truly been frightened for just a moment. "You ok?"

She nodded and turned over to face him, smiling and pushing the earlier thoughts back to the deeper crevices of her mind. "I'm wonderful." And she yawned languidly, stretching her arms above her head, the bed spread slithering down her body as she did so. "Haven't woken up next to anyone for a little while. For a minute I was just a little confused."

"Well, gee, thanks, I'm glad I made such a lasting impression on you last night."

She slapped his arm playfully and rose up onto one elbow. "Oh, be quiet. Believe me, last night's impression will last for a good long time." She smiled down at him and he lifted a hand, tucking another stray lock of hair behind her ear so he could see all of her face.

"You know, I have to say, contrary to your comments last night, you look pretty damn presentable first thing in the morning Jo Danville."

"See Mac Taylor, I've known all along that deep down you were a ladies' man. All the right lines, all the right moves. . .

He rolled his eyes and she giggled. Then he smiled. "What shall we do today?"

She glanced at the clock. "Uh, sleep? It's only 7:30." She looked over at him hopefully.

He frowned and she pouted a bit. "Mac, don't you ever sleep in?"

"I did – it's late already. I never sleep this late."

Now it was her turn to roll her eyes. "You think this is sleeping in?" She sighed loudly. "You've clearly never shared your home with a teenager – completely changes the definition of sleeping in."

Mac laughed. "Ok, I'm sorry I woke you up at such a God-awful early hour." He stated with mock drama. "But since we're both awake now, maybe we could go out and grab something for breakfast. I checked out my kitchen earlier – pretty bare. Plus," he continued, glancing out the window, ". . .looks like it's going to be nice and clear today. We could take a stroll around the neighborhood?"

"A 'stroll'?" She smirked at him playfully. "Sounds like somethin' my mama used to make us do on Sundays after church." Her accent in full force.

He shrugged, looking slightly disappointed. "Well, I'm open to other ideas."

She sat up. "No, I'm kidding. I think that's a perfect plan. And seeing as how neither of us has a shift today . . ." she winked playfully at him, ". . . maybe we'll actually have a bit more uninterrupted time together." And she leaned over and began kissing him tenderly, slowly, her fingers running through his sleep-disheveled hair. He felt his body beginning to respond almost immediately – the relaxed mood of the morning, the sensuality of her presence, the vivid memories of last night, all combining to pique his interest rather quickly.

She could suddenly feel him grinning within the kiss and pulled away to stare at him. "What? You're laughing NOW?"

He shook his head, his eyes glinting, and leaned back over to her, giving her a quick but thorough kiss in return. "I wasn't laughing. I just wanted to remind you I only had that one condom. We don't want to get too carried away."

She frowned at him. "Come on Mac, we're adults. You don't think we're mature enough to stop before it gets out of control?"

He reached out and stroked her cheek before replying. "Of course we are, but I'm not really sure I'll want to." It sounded like some cheesy comment, but he really did mean it and looking at his expression she could see his honesty.

"Oh you. Rain check then?" She suddenly sat straight up in bed and stared seriously at him. "Your mission before tonight, Mac Taylor, should you choose to accept it, is to go out and buy some condoms."

He laughed heartily, then looked at her askance. "Oh, and why does that have to be my job? You're a modern woman – too embarrassed to buy a box of rubbers at your local pharmacy?"

"Oh please. Believe me that did not even cross my mind." She flipped her head, sending her hair bouncing from behind her ears. "I just don't know what you like. I want you to be comfortable."

"If you want me to be comfortable, let's get up so we can get out of here and get some breakfast. You know I'm not one to lounge around in bed all day."

She sighed. "Oh Mac, you have so much to learn . . ." but he cut her off before she went into details. "And I'll bet you're ready to educate me," he replied, his eyebrows raised.

She smiled conspiratorially over at him. "How 'bout we start by taking a shower together? That'll get us outta here faster."

He had doubts about that but smiled as she grabbed his hand and pulled him off the bed and towards the bathroom. _Didn't I just stop her from heading in this direction? _He had a feeling this might not be the smartest idea right now, but decided he'd reserve judgment a bit longer just to see exactly what she had in mind.

Once in the bathroom, she let go of his hand to stare at herself in the mirror. "Ugghh. You have any idea where my purse is?" She asked, distracted by the state of yesterday's make-up on her face.

Mac thought a moment as he turned on the shower head. "I think it might still be in the entryway. You want me to get it for you?"

"That'd be great." She smiled sweetly at him.

"What for, you carry a spare set of clothes in there or something?" He was smiling but had to admit he had always been curious what all she kept in her shoulder bag. She always seemed to be pulling some random item haphazardly from it's depths and he assumed the state of it's interior rivaled that of her desk.

"No, just my make-up, which I'll redo after our shower." She smiled coyly at him and he nodded, heading down the hall to retrieve her bag.

Upon his return, he was marveling at the weight of her bag as he walked back into the bathroom, stopping short when he realized she was sitting on the toilet. "Oh, sorry. You want me to . . . ." He blustered, turning to leave.

"Mac, we just slept together – you don't think you can be in the same room while I use the toilet? Please."

He shrugged, placing her purse on the counter next to the sink and busying himself checking the water temperature.

She finished and sidled up behind him, reaching around to test the water herself. "Perfect. Shall we?" And she stepped past him to stand under the water stream, smoothing back her hair and letting the water rivulets drip over her head and down the rest of her body.

Mac stood transfixed, watching one particular water droplet in particular that seemed to have a mind of its own as it dripped down from her chin, onto her chest and slowly coursed it's way down the curve of her breast just skimming the rise of her nipple before plummeting downwards, at which point he lost track of it.

He groaned inwardly as he began to feel the familiar heaviness in his groin signaling imminent arousal. _This is such a bad idea_, he thought.

She opened her eyes, squinting at him through the water spray. "You coming in?"

He nodded slightly and entered, closing the shower door behind him and standing, somewhat off to the side, out of the water's reach, just watching her.

She opened her eyes again, scanning the small shelf and the couple bottles of shower products Mac had lined up. She quirked her brow at him. "Am I gonna smell like a man?"

"That's all I've got, I'm afraid your choices are somewhat limited." He moved slightly closer. "Don't you have anything in that bag of yours? You must have pretty much your entire life stowed away in there. It weighs at least 15 lbs."

"Veerrryyy fuunnnyy," she drawled, picking up one of the bottles and squeezing out some of the shampoo onto her hand. "Believe me my life weighs more than 15 lbs." And she reached out and pulled his arm, moving him closer to her under the water stream. "It's gonna be hard to get clean standing way over there." She beamed at him as she began lathering up first his hair then her own. He found himself wondering when she would move on to their bodies, not sure whether he was looking forward more to her washing his or watching her do her own.

A moment later she pulled him closer to her yet, trying to rinse out the shampoo. The feeling of her fingers lightly massaging his scalp, the stream of water flowing gently over his hair and down his face, the way her body kept brushing against his as she worked to rinse him was setting off a network of fireworks in his brain, as well as in his groin.

She turned slightly, reaching for the soap on the shelf and her hip brushed ever so slightly against the tip of his penis, causing his eyes to droop shut and his breath to catch in his throat.

She turned back to him, eying him a moment, glancing down to see the very beginnings of his growing arousal, and she slowly put the soap back on the ledge, a slight smile curving the corner of her mouth upwards.

She reached out slowly with her right hand, eventually cupping his balls in her hand – his eyes shot open but closed again almost immediately as she began stroking them gently with her fingertips. He let out a long, ragged breath, as her manipulations became more persistent and she leaned in closer to his face.

Her mouth was right next to his ear. "Please Mac, let me do this for you – don't stop me this time, ok?" She whispered, and moved her face slightly so that her mouth was now directly in front of his. She didn't wait for a response but instead placed a soft kiss just at the corner of his lips and his mouth opened suddenly, hungrily to hers. Startled somewhat, her hand slipped, losing contact with him for the briefest of moments. His hips moved forward seeking out her touch again and she recovered quickly, this time moving her fingertips even further back, gently stroking the skin just behind his balls.

Mac moaned into her mouth, his eyes still closed, the fireworks spreading further throughout his body. He'd always found it slightly unnerving to feel so completely out of control and at the mercy of another. But he had to admit at the moment it was feeling highly erotic as well. He felt her suddenly break their kiss but before he could protest, he felt her dropping downwards, her hand still massaging his perineum, and he braced himself against the back wall of the shower.

His slight movement backwards had opened a clear path for the shower stream and Jo's eyes, mouth and nose were suddenly inundated by water spray. She sputtered and moved her head back a moment. "Mac, move the shower head please, so I don't drown."

He smiled slightly, glancing downwards at her kneeling in front of him, catching a wondrous overhead view of her breasts, shower spray dripping down them both onto her thighs. He stared, entranced, until she coughed and he quickly reached over and redirected the shower against the wall. His last image before he closed his eyes again was of her head moving slowly towards him, her lips parted slightly, on a direct course for his erection.

As her mouth enclosed over his arousal her hand moved to grasp it's base, holding it steady as she slowly, languidly began to suck his length. Feeling him grow steadily in her mouth, she picked up the pace slightly. Her hand moved back to cup his balls again, then as her mouth moved outwards to his tip, her fingernails trailed behind, grazing his sensitive skin. She heard him groan loudly from above and thought perhaps she should change tactics for a moment.

This time as her mouth slid over him to the head, she remained there, her tongue lathing the underside of his tip once, twice. His breath seethed and his hand scrabbled against the shower wall, trying to find a purchase. His mind spiraled into overdrive, the edges of his brain taken over by a black fog. She continued a third and fourth time and Mac's eyes shot open. "Jo. . . I can't . . .fuck." He sucked in another breath. "Too much." He finally managed to utter, and he moved back slightly from her; she got the message, removing her mouth a moment and stroking his base a few times while he calmed down. She smiled to herself, thinking she'd just about made him lose it.

He sighed, the dense storm cloud that had suddenly reared up in his head, threatening to engulf his consciousness, now diminishing to reveal once again the fireworks display that had been growing steadily since they'd stepped into the shower together.

A few moments later and she resumed, first licking his member a few times, then engulfing him once more. Another minute of her stimulation and Mac could feel the pressure building inside him. He was fighting the urge to thrust his hips forwards all the way and plunge entirely into her mouth. _Just a little more_, he thought. He placed his hand ever so gently on the back of her head, trying not to exert too much pressure but indicating to her that he wouldn't object to her taking him even more deeply.

She felt his hand on her, knew what he wanted, but wasn't sure she was going to be able to comply. He was rather long, and she was already struggling somewhat to take him inside her. Her jaw was beginning to tire, and her gag reflex was starting to kick in even though he was clearly restraining his movement. She felt his body shudder, his hand gripping her hair, his breath coming across in ragged gasps. _Damn,_ she thought. She'd been the one who so desperately wanted this - she didn't want to fail now.

She tried to relax herself. She opened her mouth, blowing air across his shaft and allowing her to take a few deep breaths herself. She thought about last night, his strong body leaning over her, how he'd felt inside her, the glorious sensation when she'd climaxed. She took him into her mouth again, slowly at first, then gaining not only momentum but depth.

Mac felt his balls tighten, felt them draw nearer to his body, felt the pressure in his head and in his groin reach an unfathomable level and suddenly he grabbed her hair with his other hand, threw back his head against the shower wall and cried out as he came in a violent series of shudders that wracked his entire body.

She kept him in her mouth until she felt his hands release her head and his body shiver slightly as her tongue touched him. She withdrew, wiping her mouth with a handful of water from the shower and sat back onto her feet, gazing up at him.

Mac's eyes were closed, his head and shoulders leaning back against the shower wall. His chest was heaving, his arms hanging limp against his sides. She smiled and slowly stood up to face him.

Mac felt her move in front of him, but wasn't yet able to open his eyes. Somewhere in the dim fog surrounding his brain, he registered that she was being left unsatisfied, but he wasn't sure that right now he was going to be able to do much about that. In fact, he was pretty sure that right now the insides of his limbs resembled the consistency of ballistic gel and his brain didn't seem to be completely connected to any other part of his body, as he was unable to perform even the most simple task of reaching out to touch her.

He finally managed to open his eyes slightly and gaze at her. She had a cocky grin on her face. "That seem impersonal to you?" She asked, referring to his comment the night before.

He managed only to shake his head, unable to speak just yet.

She reached up and redirected the shower head to the center of the shower. "Come on, we might need to wash again."

-/-/-/-/

A few minutes later, they'd exited the shower and dried each other off. While Mac pulled out some pants and a shirt to put on, Jo walked around his room, gathering up various articles of yesterday's clothing from the floor, throwing his at him playfully and tucking hers under her other arm.

"Hey Mac, do you think if I get called out this afternoon, anyone will notice I'm wearing the same clothes as yesterday?"

Mac, clad only in boxers at the moment, shrugged, staring as she put on first her bra, then her panties. "Who cares?"

She stopped and looked at him. "Well, I certainly do. Come on." She rolled her eyes, then scoffed. "Why am I even asking YOU that. You wear the same suit, everyone just assumes you spent the night in the office. Big deal. Any other man on the team – 'oh he must've gotten lucky, check it out'." She snorted slightly. "But a woman comes to work the next day in the same clothes, everyone's talking behind her back, she gets 'a reputation'. I don't want that." She sulked.

Mac eyed her, shaking his head. He sensed a possible rant coming on and smiled slightly. "Jo, no one's going to think that about you."

"Oh really. And why is that? What, they're just going to assume I didn't have time to do the laundry?"

"You're too classy to take on a reputation of that sort." He was rummaging around in his dresser, not paying a great deal of attention to her tirade.

She stopped short, placing her hands on her hips yet again and glaring at him. Finally he stood up, a light brown piece of material in his hand, his face upbeat, until he saw her look.

"What?" His smile faded.

She merely sighed in response and turned back to look at herself in the mirror.

He walked up behind her and shook the brown thing in front of her. "Try this," he stated matter of factly. She simply eyed him warily before she finally took it and held it up in front of her. It was a brown short-sleeved women's t-shirt, a nice brand Jo noticed, with a fairly low neckline and decorative trim around the sleeves and décolleté.

She looked up at him suspiciously. "Now why on earth do you have this Mac?" She suddenly hoped it hadn't been Claire's and that he'd kept it all this time. _Surely not._ He'd hardly kept anything of hers as far as she knew. . .

"A few months before you joined the Lab, I was injured and Stella spent a couple nights at my apartment just to make sure I was ok." Jo raised her eyebrows slightly and he shook his head in response. "No, not like that. I had a concussion, broken ribs, sprained wrist. Basically she spent the night to make sure I didn't lapse into unconsciousness after I was released from the hospital."

" 'Released'." She scoffed. "More like 'escaped' if I know you." She finished.

He glared at her before continuing. "Anyway," he continued pointedly, ". . . she must have dropped it, I found it a few weeks later under the dresser in the spare room. I thought I'd be nice and wash it before returning it to her, but somehow it ended up way at the bottom of the laundry hamper. I kind of forgot about it and by the time I actually got around to dealing with it, she'd handed in her resignation and I had other things on my mind at that point."

"Well good Lord Mac, you just have a treasure trove of useful items stashed away in your apartment. Condoms, women's t-shirts. The things that must go on in your spare room. Remind me to call you the next time the elastic on my panties rips – you have an extra pair of those you can loan me?"

She realized he wasn't laughing, but rather was lost in thought. "It was hard on you when she left, wasn't it?"

He shrugged slightly and gave her a half smile. "We'd worked together a long time; we were close. Of course it was difficult. But we seemed to be reaching a point in our relationship where we were butting heads on a regular basis - if we'd worked together much longer I think it would have been uncomfortable for us and unproductive for the Lab. She needed to be out on her own and in charge. In the end, it was the best move for her career and I think for her life as well." He smiled fully now. "And I ended up with you."

"In more than one sense of the word, I guess," she quipped and peeled off her own t-shirt to try on Stella's. "You don't think anyone will recognize it as hers do you?" She asked hesitantly as she pulled it over her head.

Mac just shrugged. "I doubt it – maybe just Lindsay." He grinned as he saw the look of fear shadow her face. "But she's gone this weekend, so you have nothing to worry about."

Jo shook her head slightly and turned to the mirror. It wasn't a bad fit – but she certainly wouldn't be wearing it again, and certainly not around Lindsay. She could just imagine the saucy comments she'd hear if Lindsay realized it was Stella's and that she'd gotten it from Mac.

Mac smiled. "It looks fine on you."

"I don't suppose she left any deodorant or cream that smells like something other than 'Musk' or 'Mountain Spring'?

He laughed. "Sorry, you're stuck with mine I'm afraid."

"Maybe I'll just go without." She mumbled as she pulled her jeans up and over her panties, causing Mac to sign inwardly as he lost the view of her beautifully long legs. He finished dressing and watched her as she applied her makeup.

"Speaking of getting called out, when are you on call this weekend, anyway?" She continued.

He stiffened slightly. "Noon to 8"

She nodded, then slowly looked up. "Huh, so am I." She paused, her eyebrows furrowed in thought. "Why on earth would they put us both on at the same time?"

She suddenly narrowed her eyes, staring at Mac. "Wait. You make the schedule, or at least have last say on the final version." She pursed her lips and glared at him. He looked back at her innocently.

"Mac Taylor, you walked out on that tiny little kiss I gave you at the restaurant last night, yet barely a week ago you were sittin' in your office plotting whether you could get away with putting us on call together so you might have a chance of seeing me over the weekend. You sneaky scoundrel."

Mac was shaking his head repeatedly. "Well Danny and Lindsay are gone the whole weekend and Hawkes asked for today off – that doesn't leave a lot of choices."

"Yea, but both of us the exact same hours? Please, that is not a coincidence."

Mac merely threw up his hands in defeat. By now Jo was biting back laughter; she'd caught him and he knew it. And she was flattered as all hell that he'd been thinking about the two of them, together in a sense, before she came on so strongly this weekend. She turned away, not wanting him to see her sly smile, and glanced at herself again in the bathroom mirror, messing with her hair for the umpteenth time.

He eyed her, still somewhat flustered. "Why don't you finish getting ready so we can go eat. I'm starving."

She turned to him. "Well maybe you should've stuck around last night for that dessert," she retorted, exiting the bathroom and pouting in his direction.

"Is that why you're grumpy now? Because I deprived you of your chocolate mousse?" A smile tugged at his mouth.

She looked down at the floor, guilty. "Maybe." She muttered.

He chuckled and gently grabbed her hand, leading her out of the bedroom as she grabbed for her bag. "Come on – I have an idea of how I can make it up to you during breakfast. I just thought of the perfect place to go." And they headed outside his apartment, closing the door behind them.

-/-/-/-/

Just over an hour later, they exited a small French café. Jo eyed him as he placed his arm gently at the small of her back to guide her down the street. "Mac that was absolutely perfect."

"Best chocolate croissants in the city." He smiled. "Chocolate mousse doesn't really work as a breakfast item so that was the next best thing."

She smiled at him. "Mac Taylor, you are too sweet."

They wandered the streets for a bit, through a small open market, chatting and laughing until Jo eventually decided that she was regretting not having put some sort of deodorant on that morning, even if it was Mac's. Mac directed her to a small drugstore nearby, where Jo pleasantly reminded him that they should also check out the condom section while they were there. A short while later, as they walked out, purchases in hand, Jo spotted a tiny storefront near the corner.

"Oh Mac, we have to look. I can't pass up a jewelry store."

"Really? I'd have never guessed." He quipped as held the door for her to enter.

She spent at least 30 minutes looking through the shop. _Despite it being a space no bigger than my bathroom_, Mac thought to himself at one point. While she was engrossed in examining a particular bangle bracelet in the window display, Mac noticed an item somewhat hidden behind a ring case, way back in the corner next to the register. The proprietor looked up from his book and glanced up at Mac.

Mac cast a glance over at Jo and looked meaningfully at the shopkeeper, his eyebrows raised. The shopkeeper smiled and nodded knowingly at Mac; 30 years in this business he knew how to recognize a man wanting desperately to buy the perfect gift for the love of his life – who just happened to be 5 feet away from him at the moment.

Keeping an eye on Jo across the store, Mac pointed at the item and the shopkeeper nodded, reaching for it and setting it down in front of Mac. Jo shifted slightly but the shopkeeper quickly got up and moved towards her, pulling out several more bracelets for her to look at. He returned behind the register, winking at Mac, who smiled in return.

With Jo clearly distracted for the next several minutes, Mac picked up the piece and turned it over in his hands several times before placing it back in the small box it had been in. It was a bit more expensive than he'd expected, but he had to get it. It was perfect. He glanced at the man and nodded his head. He pulled out his credit card and handed it to the man, then went over to stand next to Jo a moment.

"Oh, she sighed. I probably have enough already."

He smiled and gently took her arm in his hand, holding it up in front of him and sending the many bangles cascading down to her elbow. "You think?" He replied smugly but she just glared and snatched her hand back. She busied herself putting them back in order and Mac snuck away to sign the credit card slip and slide the small box into the drugstore bag, along with the condoms.

As they exited, Mac shot a thankful glance back at the shopkeeper who smiled serenely in return. Mac realized that they had never exchanged a single word, but everything had worked out seamlessly.

Something seemed to catch Jo's eye across the street and Mac followed her gaze. A small deli seemed to be the focus of her attention.

He laughed. "You hungry already? It's not even noon yet."

She glanced at her watch. "10 minutes 'til!" She smiled. I am actually kinda hungry, but I also have to use the bathroom – maybe we can take care of both?" She looked at him hopefully.

He nodded and they crossed the street, entering the small space.

Jo told Mac what she wanted and he approached the counter, ordering for them as she stepped away to use the ladies' room.

She returned a few minutes later and sat next to him on the small bench as he handed over her sandwich.

"Hey, is that new Batman flick out yet? I keep seeing ads all over the place." She took a huge bite of her sandwich and chewed a moment before her mouth stretched out in a silly grin. She leaned towards him conspiratorially. "You know, I've always had a secret crush on the Dark Knight, ever since I was a little girl." Mac raised his eyebrows.

"I'm serious, she continued. "You know, the strong, sexy, silent type. Kinda reminds me a little bit of you."

"Jo."

"And come on, don't tell me you didn't have at least one wet dream involving catwoman when you were young. She was pretty damned sexy if I do say so myself."

He glanced sideways at her, looking a bit uncomfortable. "I may have thought about her once or twice," he stated timidly.

She smiled and slapped the table with her hand, causing Mac to jump. "Ha, I knew it. So let's go see it. It'd be fun."

"Sounds to me like seeing this movie together is just your idea of foreplay."

She merely gave him a salacious grin and waggled her eyebrows. "Well, we do have more condoms," she grinned as she picked up the bag and shook it in front of him.

He sighed, wondering if anyone at any of the neighboring tables had overheard her. "You are incorrigible, Jo Danville."

"Ah, but ya gotta admit I'm fun."

"That you are."

Suddenly Jo's phone buzzed, followed a few seconds later by Mac's. They both glanced down, seeing the familiar code for NYPD dispatch. Jo looked slowly up at Mac, disappointment written all over her face. "Oh, darn," she sighed, not wanting their time together to end so abruptly. Mac's gaze was frozen downwards, staring at the screen. The insulated little bubble in which they had been existing for the past several hours finally bursting and the reality of their time together suddenly setting in. Just as Jo answered her phone, Mac finally looked up and stared at her, his expression nothing less than one of abject fear as he pressed the 'answer' button and raised his phone to his ear.

**A/N: My plan is to have another chapter showing how Mac will (or will not) deal with being around some of the team after his time spent with Jo, followed by a short epilogue. Although I'm not very good at "short" so we'll see. Thanks again for all the positive reviews and for sticking with the story. **


	6. Chapter 6 Fifth Course: Indigestion

**A/N: Well, I probably should have added angst to my story category after this chapter, because there's not a whole lot of romance or even friendship here. But things can only get better . . . right?**

**End of Previous Chapter:**

Suddenly Jo's phone buzzed, followed a few seconds later by Mac's. They both glanced down, seeing the familiar code for NYPD dispatch. Jo looked slowly up at Mac, disappointment written all over her face. "Oh, darn," she sighed, not wanting their time together to end so abruptly. Mac's gaze was frozen downwards, staring at the screen. The insulated little bubble in which they had been existing for the past several hours finally bursting and the reality of their time together suddenly setting in. Just as Jo answered her phone, Mac finally looked up and stared at her, his expression nothing less than one of abject fear as he pressed the 'answer' button and raised his phone to his ear.

**A Nice Dinner 6 – Fifth Course: Indigestion (discomfort arising once one begins to digest the various courses of a meal)**

Jo furrowed her brow as she listened to dispatch. "Ok, I'll be there in . . ." she glanced at her watch, suddenly remembering she had neither her car, nor her gun nor her field kit. ". . .uh, at least a half an hour – I'm not close." And she hung up, continuing to watch the screen as the text confirming the exact location popped up.

She looked up at Mac, who ended his call earlier but hadn't seemed to move, his gaze still focused on the phone in his hand. "Mac, are you ok?"

He heard her speak his name and looked up slowly, not really seeing her. "MAC, what's wrong?"

He shook himself back to reality, focusing his eyes on hers. "Uh, nothing. We should go." And he stood up, grabbing the rest of his sandwich and wolfing down a few bites before throwing the remainder into the trash. Jo wrapped hers in a napkin to bring and took a last swig of her soda before standing up and trailing behind Mac, who was clearly in a hurry. He exited the deli and took off down the street.

"Mac, stop a minute." She called, as his quick pace was drawing him further and further away. He came to a sudden halt but merely stood waiting for her to catch up, not acknowledging her in any other way.

"Mac, what is going on?" She reached out and placed her hand gently on his arm, turning him slightly so that his body was facing hers, even if he continued to avoid her gaze. "You know something about this that I don't? All I got was 3 D.B.s, in the Park, off the access bridge at the north edge of Turtle Pond. Something else you're not sharing here?"

He shook his head, but she wasn't sure if it was in response to her question or an indication of his current mood.

"Mac. Come on, you're worrying me."

He sighed, still staring at the pavement. He wasn't being fair to her, he knew that. He looked up, glancing across the street for a moment, before finally willing his gaze to turn and connect with hers. He could see the concern in her eyes and he reached across his body with his right arm, his hand closing over hers still resting near his other shoulder.

"Jo calm down. No, I don't know anything more about the scene than you. Nothing's wrong." He forced his lips to turn upwards into a slight smile.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Mac, that's the worst fake smile I've ever seen. Ellie does a better job when she breaks curfew and comes up with some crazy story about why she's late. Come on, tell me what's going on with you."

"It's just . . ." he paused, trying to collect his thoughts. " . . . it's just that all this . . ." he removed his hand to gesture, indicating the both of them, ". . . happened so quickly, so unexpectedly, that there wasn't really time to figure out where we were going; where we are going." He trailed off, his hands dropping back to his sides, his gaze back to the pavement.

Jo stiffened slightly and removed her hand from his arm. "Are you having second thoughts?"

He sighed. "No. . .I just . . ." he trailed off, glancing up at her then away again. "I'm not having second thoughts, but . . ."

She pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers. This could not be happening.

He saw the crestfallen look on her face as she moved her hand away. He reached out to gently touch her shoulder.

"Jo, I mean it. I'm not having second thoughts about what happened. I told you last night, when I commit to something, I don't back down. You should know that about me by now."

She smiled faintly, nodding almost imperceptibly.

"But you were also right in that I'm not usually impulsive, certainly not about these kinds of things. And I didn't really take a lot of time to think this through. Quite honestly, now, it's scaring the hell out of me. Working together and. . ."

She looked at him, uncertainty etched across her face. "Mac, you're telling me on the one hand that you're not having second thoughts, yet at the same time you sound like you aren't sure this is a good idea. I'm not sure where you're heading here. You don't regret what we did last night, but it's too scary for you to continue? Are you trying to say 'What's done is done' and now we move on?"

He looked at her, his eyes serious. "I want this to work Jo. I'm just not sure right now how it's going to."

She nodded once, pursing her lips. "All right. Well, I appreciate you're candor." She glanced down at her watch then at the street around her. She wasn't familiar with this neighborhood and didn't have a sense of exactly where they were. "We should probably get going. How do you want to do this? Neither one of us has a car, a kit or a piece. Any thoughts?"

He gestured for her to follow. "Come on. My place is just a few blocks away. I'll get the car, get our guns and . . ." he stalled. _Shit, then what?_

Dropping her at the Lab to get her car and kit would be a detour of anywhere from 15-30 minutes, depending on traffic. Obviously the quickest way to arrive at the scene would be to drive her in the Avalanche. But her apartment was on the other side of the city. It wouldn't have made sense for him to pick her up. And they had no reason to be together this morning; well, other than the real reason. But he was definitely not ready to broadcast that to the team.

Jo stepped in. "Drop me off at the Wilton Hotel – a couple blocks from your place. I'll be able to grab a cab there. I'll just say my car wouldn't start last night and I left it at the Lab, with my kit." She gazed up at him. She was disappointed, annoyed, hurt - any number of emotions raced through her head, but she needed to be professional at the moment and move on, for the sake of her job and the victims in the Park. She and Mac could hash this out later.

Mac nodded, relief flooding his body as he realized her plan was not only the most efficient, but also the most discreet. He took off in the direction of his apartment, Jo following fast on his heels.

They reached his building in five minutes and immediately descended to the parking garage. They'd spent the entire walk in complete silence, having come to some tacit agreement that this was neither the time nor the place to have any sort of discussion remotely related to 'them'.

They approached the car and Mac opened her door, letting her climb up and close it herself as he rounded the front and entered the driver's side. He slammed his door and reached across her lap to unlock the glove box, retrieving their guns. He handed her hers, attached his to his belt, and jammed the pharmacy bag into the space that had just been freed up by the guns.

She gazed at the bag, watching it disappear from sight as he closed the glove box door and locked it again. _Surely he's not just going to lock away everything we've shared over the past few hours like he just did that damned bag._ She stared out the window in silence as they maneuvered into traffic, munching on her sandwich.

A short drive later he pulled up into a passenger loading space in front of the hotel. To her surprise, he cut the engine and turned to face her, rather than just dropping her off. "Are we going to be ok to work on this case together?" He asked, his face devoid of any expression.

Her mouth gaped slightly in surprise. "Mac I'm nothing if not professional. What the hell do you think I'm gonna to do? Sock you in the eye when you show up at the scene? Break down in tears over 'us'? Announce to everyone that we 'fucked' last night?" He grimaced as if she'd slapped him. "I think you know me better than that."

She turned abruptly to open the door, her anger getting the better of her. But she forced herself to pause, took a deep breath, and shifted back to face him. "I'm sorry. But Mac, we clearly need to talk about this. About us."

He nodded, avoiding her gaze. "You're absolutely right. We do need to." She looked at him expectantly. He continued. "Let's check in later this afternoon – see how our schedules are going. We can grab dinner or whatever seems to make sense at the time."

She nodded slowly, slightly disappointed. She'd hoped for a more definite plan, but he was right, there was no telling when they would both finish. She smiled weakly at him and hopped out of the car, closing the door behind her without a further glance.

He watched her walk over to a waiting cab and climb in. He sat in the car a moment longer, running his hand through his hair, feeling a massive headache growing on either side of his head. He expected he'd just royally messed everything up. Of course she wasn't happy with his sudden hesitancy about their relationship. He wasn't sure where it was coming from. And he knew he'd done a poor job of explaining to her what he was feeling right now. He truly liked Jo. A lot. He knew she liked him. He really did want this to work. He just couldn't for the life of him picture right now how it would.

He had managed to work through it with Peyton, although it certainly hadn't been easy. He remembered how much his hesitancy at revealing even the slightest sign of intimacy between the two of them had really hurt her early on. But in the end they had worked it out. Yet his relationship with Peyton had moved so much more slowly. There'd been more time to think it through, and there had still been several rocky moments. _Jo and I had our first date, slept together and had our first fight all in less than 24 hours._ He thought morosely. _Probably some kind of record, certainly for me._

He shook his head and pulled away, turning onto 5th Avenue and following the Park until he turned in at the 79th St entrance. He passed Belvedere Castle, heading towards the Delacorte Theater. Arriving at the gate to the service entrance in back, across from Turtle Pond, Mac flashed his badge and was let in.

He saw Don talking to two NYC Parks Enforcement officers; another was seated on the trunk of an SUV, clearly upset. Behind Don, Mac could see one of the night shift M.E.s and next to him stood Adam, looking as if he'd just rolled out of bed. Don began walking over to Mac, accompanied by one of the Park Enforcement officers. With the officer's help, Don began summarizing what they'd found so far.

A moment later, they both looked up as they heard the gate squeak open. A Yellow cab pulled in and Jo got out, leaning back in to pay the driver and slamming the door behind her. A uniformed officer escorted the cab back to the gate and on its way.

Don grinned from ear to ear and waved at her. "Hey Danville, cabbin' it today are we? Too far gone to drive home last night?" He joked.

She walked up and stood in front of Mac and Don. Mac noticed she hadn't looked at him once yet. "Do I look like I have a hangover to you Don?" She asked, hands on her hips and her head tipped slightly so it seemed she was peering down at him even though he was several inches taller.

He merely laughed. "The day Jo Danville drags herself to a crime scene, eyes all bloodshot, reeking of alcohol, same wrinkly clothes from the day before (Jo tensed slightly but only Mac noticed), I swear I will wear a suit to work for a week."

She eyed him suspiciously. "Come on Don, you'd renege on that one after 2 days - you don't own enough suits to get you through a whole week."

"Aah, I'm just teasin' ya."

"Well, thanks for that charming welcome then. What exactly do we have?" She looked around, searching for the bodies and nearly jumped when Adam suddenly stood up a few feet behind Don, where he'd been crouched next to the pond taking samples.

"Just step right over here to my lovely waterfront lot," grinned Adam, swooping his hand dramatically. Jo mock-curtsied in response as she moved towards him. As she approached, she could now see the legs and back half of what appeared to be a male wearing a maintenance uniform, camouflaged in the dense grass at the edge of the pond.

Don summarized quickly what he'd already started to tell Mac. "Some tourist noticed it about an hour ago. He was standing on the nature blind over there," motioning behind him on the north edge of the pond. ". . . trying to spot the turtles up close with some binoculars and came upon the feet of our maintenance guy here. T.O.D estimated at between 4-6 a.m. this morning, before the park opened. Guy's name is Bob Smith . . ." he looked at them with a smile, ". . . seriously, it is. He works maintenance for the Parks Conservancy."

Jo glanced at the body then at Adam. "I don't have my kit – Adam can I borrow some stuff from yours?"

Adam eyed her with mock hesitation. "Ohh, J.D., I don't know. You better take that up with the boss man over there. Showing up at the scene without your field kit – could get you into trouble big time." She glared back, albeit playfully.

Don stared at them a moment. "You ok Jo? You show up with no car, no kit. Somethin' happen?"

_Here we go_ thought Mac.

Jo simply shook her head. "Nah, my car wouldn't start last night. I left it in the garage at the Lab. Kept my kit there too – didn't feel like carting it with me on the subway." She glanced over at Mac. "Sorry. I probably should've gone to get it this morning."

Mac shrugged back at her. "It's ok. Borrow Adam's."

Jo turned back to Adam. "Where are the other bodies? I thought there were three." She turned as she heard a loud guffaw from Don behind them. He motioned for Mac to follow. "You're gonna wanna see this." Mac moved to stand next to Jo. His shoulder brushed her arm slightly, but he stood firm. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, but his gaze was directed to the pond, where Don was motioning.

Don continued. "So, turns out the first Parks Enforcement officer on scene's only been on a couple weeks – not used to dead bodies yet. He's sittin' over there now, recovering. Anyway, he gets the call, shows up, comes up behind our maintenance guy here, figures he's dead since his head's submerged. Glances into the water . . ." he motioned for Jo to move closer to the pond edge, " . . . and he gets a gander at this," he pointed with his hand to an area of the pond between the bank and Turtle Island a few yards away.

Jo turned back to Mac, a look of incredulity on her face. "Are those . . . mannequins?"

Mac looked at her, nodding, then turned to Don. "You gonna fill us in?"

"There's your other two bodies. Parks officer got a quick look at 'em, submerged like they are, and apparently got spooked when a turtle slid off the rock into the water. He thought the bodies were comin' back to life or somethin'. He hightailed it back and called it in to NYPD, without investigating any further. Reported three bodies because that's what he thought he saw."

Jo looked at Mac a moment. "You know, I remember reading somewhere about some new art installation in the park involving differently painted mannequins randomly placed near some of the monuments."

Mac raised an eyebrow. "Yea, I remember that too. All sorts of controversy, community groups complained they would detract from the natural beauty, distract drivers, scare passersby."

The senior Parks Enforcement officer chimed in. "We were against it too – just another thing that can get stolen."

Don laughed. "Or drowned."

Jo looked at the officer. "I take it these two aren't supposed to be in Turtle Pond?"

The officer shook his head. "Nah. We're canvassing outwards from here – trying to figure out where they're missing from."

She nodded. "Ok, well, find where they came from. Find out when the maintenance guy was on shift last – who else he worked with. Adam, finish the photos and let's get our 'victims' pulled out and back to the Lab." She glanced at the M.E. "Preliminary cause of death?"

The man nodded. "Looks like he probably hit his head on that rock just under the surface there, knocked himself unconscious and drowned. Detected a bit of bruising on his back – possible he was pushed or kicked. I'll have to check back at the morgue for anything else."

Jo nodded and walked back away from the pond, trying to follow the victim's shoeprints in the mud.

Don glanced over at Mac, then Jo. "Hey, you know we missed you two last night

at Flaherty's. Too good for the rest of us lowly peons?"

Mac snorted. Jo continued to study the trail of shoeprints.

"Seriously, Mac, I thought you were gonna join us. What'd you do last night?"

Mac's poker face fell into place as he turned his gaze to Don. He shrugged. "The usual. Worked, grabbed something to eat, went home and went to bed." He smiled inwardly. He hadn't even lied.

"Man, Mac, you gotta start gettin' out again, go on a date. You need to find a new woman."

Mac glared, not looking the least bit convinced. "I'm fine thank you."

Don shook his head. "Look I was gonna go out to that new sports bar by the precinct tonight – why don't you join me?"

Jo turned to face them, very interested in Mac's answer.

Mac noticed Jo's sudden interest, but avoided looking at her. Instead he raised his eyebrows and gave Don a quizzical look. "You asking me out on a date? I mean I like you and all but . . ."

Don scoffed. "Come on Mac, don't think so highly of yourself. I mean we're friends and all, but you're not really my type."

"So what you're really asking me to do is accompany you to a bar while you scope out eligible women?" Mac smirked.

"No I'm askin' you to have a drink with me – if any attractive women happen to approach us, well, that's just our good luck."

"Thanks Don, but it's not really my scene."

Don raised up his hands. "Hey, I'm flexible. Maybe you wanna swing by that new scientific bookstore on 10th instead? Might find someone more your style there."

Adam scoffed and Jo slapped her hand to her face, stifling a giggle that was threatening to explode out of her mouth.

Mac shut Adam up in a second with a glare; he turned to Jo only to be greeted by her eyes sparkling back at him, her hand failing to conceal the huge smile on her face.

Don laughed. "Hey, I'm bein' flexible here. I'm willing to tailor the evening to you Mac."

Adam piped up. "Hah. That was good. Get it?" Everyone turned to stare at him. "No, listen. 'Tailor' like adapt to the situation and 'Taylor' like 'Mac Taylor'. Yea? "'Tailor' the evening for 'Taylor'." He grinned. No one laughed. "Umm, ok, maybe not so funny. I'll just . . . well . . ."

"Adam, just stick with the trace." Mac intoned.

"Yea, boss. Good idea." And he crouched back down to the body, still murmuring something about 'tailors'.

Don rolled his eyes and turned to Jo. "What's your excuse for last night?" Then he raised a finger as if recalling something. "Oh, I know, I know. Your kids."

Jo shook her head nonchalantly. "No actually they're both out of town."

Don looked hurt. "And you chose your empty apartment over a fun-filled night of drinking with us? Now I'm really offended."

Jo smiled seductively. "Who says my apartment was empty?"

At that, Mac's head spun around, the poker face sliding a bit.

Don choked slightly. "Well, do tell."

Jo just laughed, shaking her head. "Got you." Don frowned.

She grinned at him. "Don, if you ever have kids you will come to realize the sheer bliss of just being alone in your apartment every once in a while."

Don laughed and Mac sighed inwardly.

Don continued, not ready to let them off the hook yet. "Seriously, though, you guys. The two a ya. Geez. Maybe you two oughta start going out – you can spend your free time hanging out in each other's apartments doing nothin' together. At least it'd be less embarrassing for ya." He shook his head and moved off to check in with another officer.

Mac turned to Jo, his mouth open, about to say something when his phone went off. He glanced at it and looked up to her. She raised her eyebrow expectantly. "Another crime scene. Down in the East Village." His gaze lingered on hers for a moment, then turned to Adam. "You guys ok here with your '3' victims?"

They both smiled in return. Mac glanced at Jo again. "Adam, can you give Jo a ride back to the Lab when you guys are done?"

Adam stood and saluted. "Sure thing boss." Then he turned to Jo. "You're chariot awaits my lady. Nothing fancy but it's clean."

Jo smiled sweetly at Adam. "Anything's better than trying to get a cab from here." She turned to Mac. "Maybe I'll see you later at the Lab." Mac nodded and took off as Jo crouched down next to Adam. He looked back as he got into the Avalanche, but she didn't; she was deep in discussion with Adam.

-/-/-/-/-

Several hours later, Mac was seated in his office, signing off on some paperwork. He heard a soft knock at his door, even though he'd left it open. He glanced up to see Jo smiling slightly. "Can I come in?"

He smiled warmly in return. "Of course. Sit down." And he pushed the paperwork away, turning towards the couch as she eased down into it. He noticed she had her jacket and bag with her.

She glanced at the doorway before starting. "I thought we were going to check in this afternoon?"

Mac frowned, glancing at his watch. 7:30. He looked at her sheepishly. "Yea, I guess it's not afternoon anymore, huh?"

Jo shook her head. "Oh Mac, sometimes I think if you never got called out you'd just end up sitting there 24 hours a day and not even realize it."

He nodded. "You're probably right." He looked at her, trying to gauge her mood. "I can think of something that might make me want to leave."

She narrowed her eyes at him, but said nothing in response. _Ok, she was clearly not in that kind of mood._

She sighed. "That wasn't so bad today, was it?"

He quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Being at the crime scene together." She clarified.

He paused before responding. "No, it was ok. But we were there for 10 minutes. We didn't even work the case together. It makes me feel . . . awkward. I'm sorry."

A lab tech knocked and entered the office with a report for Mac. He nodded his thanks and looked back to Jo after the tech left. "You want to do something together?" They'd discussed seeing a movie earlier, but he realized that probably wouldn't be very conducive to talking. "Maybe we could just grab a bite to eat and chat."

_This is gonna need more than a chat,_ she thought. "I think I'd rather you just came over to my place – I'll whip up something simple and we can 'chat' there. How about 8:30?"

He looked at her, slightly confused. "You want me to come over?"

She have him a hard stare. "If we're really going to have a productive talk I'd prefer it be in private so we don't feel the need to tiptoe around each other like we might if we were in public."

Out of the blue, Mac suddenly had a vision of Jo standing over him in her living room yelling at him at the top of her lungs, gesticulating frantically. He couldn't hold back the slight grin that tugged at his lips, the glint of amusement in his eyes.

Jo wrinkled her forehead. "That was funny somehow?"

He shook his head. "No, it wasn't. I'm sorry." His grin was expanding into a smile despite his best efforts to contain it. "It just, well, it conjured up kind of a funny image in my mind of you yelling at me in your apartment."

"And that was just so incredibly amusing, huh?"

_She was not seeing the humor in this at all, _he thought.

His full blown smile had now turned into a rather hearty chuckle, and he covered his mouth with his hand, turning away from her for fear he was going to explode into peals of laughter any second. Maybe it was his nerves. Maybe it was his empty stomach. Maybe it was the lack of sleep. But he just couldn't stop. He could not get rid of that image . . .

She sighed and threw up her hands, exasperated, watching his shoulders shake with the effort of containing his laughter. "Mac Taylor, I swear, I have no idea what to make of you sometimes."

He peeked around slowly to hazard a glance at her face. She didn't sound particularly mad anymore, or even annoyed. In fact as she caught his timid stare, she sighed again and actually smiled, although he had to admit it was a weak one.

They were interrupted by Flack knocking at the door, his eyebrows raised at the two of them. Mac tried to get himself back under control while Jo alternated glaring at Flack then Mac in turn.

"I miss somethin' funny?" Don asked.

"Apparently my ability to tell great jokes is enhanced when I'm not actually intending to tell one." She quipped.

Flack looked at Mac. "Huh?"

Mac shook his head. "Nothing. I laughed at something that wasn't supposed to be funny."

"YOU laughed?"

Mac's smile disappeared and it was Jo's turn to smirk. Mac frowned at both of them.

Don glanced at Jo, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth. "You must be good. You oughta think about goin' out on the club circuit. Better hours than we got here, ya gotta admit – nights only, days free." Mac and Jo glanced at one another. Don continued. "I can see the billboard now – 'The Accidental Comic' - straight to you from the NYPD Crime Lab. Hey, if the criminals don't kill ya, her jokes will." Mac groaned. Jo just rolled her eyes. Don slapped his thigh and tossed his coat on the couch, still grinning.

"Are you here for some reason other than the entertainment value?" Mac finally asked.

Don sat down next to Jo on the couch. "Matter of fact, yes, I am at that. Came ta tell ya both it's time to go home." He glanced at Mac. "East Village murder – confession in the bag. Girlfriend did it. He was cheatin'."

He turned to Jo. "Turtle Pond: Turns out Bob the maintenance guy had a bet with his partner Herb that he could steal the mannequins from around the King Jagiello Monument and pose them on Turtle Pond Island before the Park opened. Old Herb finally admitted he was with Bob the whole time."

"Once they got to the pond, they heard a noise while they were trying to get the mannequins set up - they got scared. Probably a turtle - it is Turtle Pond. Herb panicked and took off, thought the cops were comin'. Heard a splash behind him and figured it was just Bob running the other direction. Bob apparently tripped and fell in the water, hit his head. Herb didn't know his friend was dead until he showed up for work this afternoon and Bob didn't."

Jo glanced at him. "What about the bruising on his back?"

Don smiled. "Apparently Bob had a bit of a tussle with one of the mannequins as he was trying to wrangle it from it's stand – fell on it."

Jo sighed. "Oh for heaven's sake. I wasted my Saturday afternoon and most of the evening on this?"

Don just shrugged. "What can I say? The childishness of some people never ceases to amaze me after all these years." He stood, glancing down at Jo. "You off to revel in the silence of your empty apartment?"

She smiled at him seductively as she stood to go. "Absolutely." She drawled, articulating each individual syllable as if it were a unique word. "Glass of wine, bubble bath, some nice music. In my head, I am already there."

Don smirked. "Yea, so am I." She reached out and slapped him playfully on the arm, smiling as she did so. "Dream on." And she walked out of the office, glancing back with her radiant smile to wave at them both. "'Night Don. 'Night Mac." And she headed to the elevator.

Don turned to Mac. "You know, you should go out with her."

Mac nearly swallowed his tongue. "Jo?"

"Yea, Jo, your partner, your colleague, your friend, the one that just sashayed out a your office like she does."

"Don, come on."

He nodded. "No, I'm serious Mac. I could see you guys together. Now you and Stella mighta killed each other. But you and Jo, no I don't see you reaching that level of drama. She's a little more grounded. I could see it workin'. She could be good for you Mac. In lottsa ways." His eyebrows waggled a few times.

Mac gazed at him unbelievingly. "Don, we work together. . .

"Ahh, don't give me that shit. So do Danny and Lindsay, so did Jess and I, so did you and Peyton. Deep down, we're just one big happy family. Besides, where else are ya supposed to meet anyone when we got hours like ours?" Don smiled widely at Mac and motioned with his arm. "But come on. I came to free you." Don grabbed his coat from the couch and waited for Mac who was turning off his monitor. "So, offer's still open for that drink. Sports bar? Or book store?"

Mac just smiled. "Thanks for the tempting offer Don, but I actually have plans."

Don stopped in his tracks. "Hey, way to go Mac. Care to elaborate?"

Mac merely shook his head. "No, I don't." And he walked to the elevator, Don trailing behind.

As they stood waiting for the doors to open, Mac's phone beeped. Glancing down, he saw a text from Jo. "Don't 4get, my place, 8:30. If u behave, I promise I won't yell at u."

Mac smiled as he entered the elevator, shaking his head at Don, who figured as long as Mac seemed happy, he wouldn't push for details.

**A/N: In response to a couple subtle hints from readers, I slightly redid my original plan for this story. I expanded this chapter, and then two more will still follow. That way we can at least get Mac and Jo through the long weekend. Thanks for everyone who's still reading. Hope you like it . . .**


	7. Chapter 7 Sixth Course: Digestif

**A/N: This chapter just kept fighting back every step of the way as I was writing it. Hope it lives up to everyone's expectations. I think I've finally managed to tame it into submission.**

**End of Previous Chapter:**

Mac just smiled. "Thanks for the tempting offer Don, but I actually have plans."

Don stopped in his tracks. "Hey, way to go Mac. Care to elaborate?"

Mac merely shook his head. "No, I don't." And he walked to the elevator, Don trailing behind.

As they stood waiting for the doors to open, Mac's phone beeped. Glancing down, he saw a text from Jo. "Don't 4get, my place, 8:30. If u behave, I promise I won't yell at u."

Mac smiled as he entered the elevator, shaking his head firmly as he caught sight of Don's raised eyebrows. Don smiled to himself, figuring that as long as Mac seemed happy, he wouldn't push for details.

**A Nice Dinner 7 – Sixth Course: Digestif (an alcoholic beverage served after a meal serving to aid digestion)**

A minute before 9:00, Mac pulled up outside Jo's building. He'd called her from his apartment, prior to taking a quick shower, just to let her know he was running a half an hour late. Not seeing any parking, he began circling the block.

As he drove, he considered what Don had said earlier. At Don's first mention that Mac should go out with Jo, he had feared Don already suspected something between them, but it had become clear he was just offering a suggestion. _An insightful one at that_, Mac mused.

Still searching for a space, his thoughts turned to Jo. It was obvious everyone in the Lab adored her. How could you not? He couldn't honestly think of anyone in the Lab that would not be happy if they found out he and Jo were together. As for the Department, Sinclair, the administration? Well, he supposed he'd have to deal with any fallout on that end as it occurred, but practically speaking, there were no rules against it. As long as they remained professional. He shook his head ruefully as he realized that was exactly what he'd intimated Jo would be unable to do earlier in the day.

He thought back to when he was with Peyton. No one had called into question their relationship, or ability to remain professional, once Mac had finally come to terms with making it public himself. It was just his insecurities getting the better of him now. He knew that. Now he just had to let Jo know.

He finally pulled into a space three blocks away. As he got out, he debated whether to bring his gym bag. He'd thrown some old jeans, a t-shirt and tennis shoes in, thinking ahead to the next day when he'd be helping move an old friend's daughter into a new apartment.

He hesitated, staring at the bag. Part of him feared that showing up on Jo's doorstep with an overnight bag would be a rather overconfident move right now. While he hoped their playful banter earlier in his office and more recently on the phone boded well for continuing their evening past dinner, he couldn't be certain. And although the last few hours, and Don's unknowing encouragement earlier, had served to bolster his own belief that "they" could work, he realized he hadn't shared any of this with Jo yet. She was likely still feeling hurt and perhaps a bit angry after his earlier lapse of confidence in their relationship.

He made up his mind and tossed the bag behind the seat. Closing the car door, he walked a few feet before suddenly stopping and turned back. Opening the passenger door, he unlocked the glove box to retrieve the plastic sack he'd stowed there earlier. He removed the jewelry box, turning it over in his hand. Now was not the right time for that either, he decided, so he stashed it back in the bag and grabbed the condom box instead. But if it wasn't the right time to give her the gift, or bring in his change of clothes for tomorrow, did it really make sense to bring the condoms? If by some miracle they even ended up at that point tonight and he pulled them out, would she be thankful or find it presumptuous?

He pinched the bridge of his nose. _For Christ's sake, _he thought_, no wonder I hardly date. It's just too damned complicated. _He glanced at his watch. 9:10. He was officially late now and no matter what he did, she would probably be annoyed. Whether because he was late, because he brought an overnight bag, or because he showed up with a box of condoms. In the end, he might as well just suffer through it all at once. And it was supposed to storm tonight – he didn't want to have to trek back to the car for something later. He grabbed the gym bag, tucked the condom box in his jacket pocket, and trudged the three blocks to Jo's apartment, shaking his head at the staggering complexity of having a relationship.

As he approached her building, he noticed Jo through the dimly lit lobby, retrieving her mail. He stood on the stoop watching her a moment. She was dressed casually in a pair of very faded black jeans and thin, loose-knit black cardigan with a white tank top underneath. Her hair was tied up and it looked like she had slippers on her feet. He smiled slightly; despite her casual attire she still exuded such an unaffected beauty.

He rapped on the window and waved. He'd startled her and she looked up suddenly, dropping one of the envelopes. Catching sight of him, she smiled, looking relieved, and after scooping up the letter from the floor she came to the entryway, stopping just shy of the door itself.

She made no move to open it, but rather stood stock still, staring at him, her arms crossing slowly in front of her. He looked at her, his eyebrows furrowing in concern. He finally shrugged his shoulders, mouthing "What's wrong?"

She gave him a stubborn look, but it soon melted into a smirk and he breathed a sigh of relief as she reached out and opened the door, a sly smile on her face. She nodded at his gym bag, stepping aside to let him in. "So you're movin' in already?"

He meant to sigh, but a small chuckle escaped instead. "I'll have you know that's why I'm late, because I couldn't decide whether or not to bring an overnight bag."

"Well, it looks like you came to the conclusion we'd patch things up."

He shrugged, but the hint of a smile played across his lips. "It's gonna rain and I'm not parked close – just thought I'd be prepared. If you throw me out, I'll have something to hold over my head while I run back to my car."

She laughed and pressed the elevator button.

As they waited, she looked at him strangely, then reached out her hand and felt his hair, her fingernails slightly grazing his scalp. "You're all wet." She stated matter of factly.

God, he loved it when she did that to his hair. "Yea, I took a quick shower."

The door pinged and opened. Jo stepped in. "Hmm, and I thought we were gonna take a bubble bath later on."

He raised an eyebrow but she was staring straight ahead. Sometimes he just had no idea whether or not she was kidding. Before he could reply, they arrived at her floor and the elevator creaked open.

She paused outside her door, feeling for her keys in her sweater pocket.

"Jo." His voice was so soft, she had to look up at him to be sure he had really spoken. His expression was thoughtful, but when his gaze met hers, she could see deep sorrow in his eyes. "I apologize for what I said before I dropped you off today. That was completely insensitive of me. I don't know what I thought might happen. I really am sorry." She didn't respond, merely nodded slowly.

He reached out and cupped her cheek ever so softly with his palm. His touch was so warm, so inviting, but a second later she pulled abruptly away, looking into his eyes, a tiny glint in her eye. "We still need to talk mister. Don't think you're gettin' out of it by bein' all romantic."

He cursed himself inwardly for having second guessed her professionalism earlier, but he smiled at her anyway. "Don't worry – I'll be on my best behavior. I've seen you angry and believe me, I have no desire to be on the firing end of your wrath."

"Wise move." And she narrowed her eyes slightly as she motioned him into her apartment and shut the door behind them.

As they entered her apartment, Mac noticed the table was already set for the two of them at adjoining sides. There was soft music playing – a faint mixture of slow jazz or blues. He couldn't quite discern what it was, but it was pleasing. The lights were low and she'd placed a singe candle right in the middle of the table. The aroma emanating from the kitchen was tantalizing to say the least and he could feel his mouth begin to water.

"Have a seat Mac, everything's ready. I just need to bring it out."

Mac hesitated. "I'll help you."

She shook her head. "Nope, you sit. I'll get it; it's nothing much."

He frowned but complied, placing his bag on the floor, hanging his jacket on an empty hook and seating himself.

Jo returned carrying two steaming bowls and set them on the table. She smiled at him, then turned and walked back to the kitchen. She emerged the next time with a bottle of wine, a large bowl of salad and a baguette tucked under her arm.

Mac looked at it all as she sat down. "Smells amazing. You just did all this?"

She shrugged. "It's nothing extravagant. Shrimp and grits, greens and salad. You were expecting burgers weren't you?" Her mouth quirked into a slight smile.

He laughed. "No, I just didn't know you were such a culinary artist." He replied, serving himself generously from the bowls and feeling a bit taken aback that he hadn't had any idea she could cook.

She shrugged. "You'd better taste it before you start singing my praises as a chef." Pouring them both a glass of wine, she continued. "I like to cook but don't do it often enough. I find it relaxing when I do though. Even therapeutic." She stared at him a moment and he felt her heavy gaze on him. He looked up sheepishly.

"Jo, I really am sorry about . . ."

She shook her head, reaching to place her finger on his mouth, silencing him. "My daddy always said that when you sit down at the table, whether in the company of friend or foe, you leave your differences aside and eat a civilized meal. Plenty of time to get down to business later on. Arguing does nothing to help digestion."

He looked at her a moment, then nodded hesitantly, finally turning his gaze to the plate of food in front of him.

They continued the meal without further discussion of their status as a couple. They compared notes on their respective cases that day. Jo spoke about Ellie's soccer team and her newfound love for camping. Mac told her about his friend Roy, and his daughter who, barely a month in as a freshman at NYU, had already decided she needed to move off-campus.

Their conversation was pleasant, friendly. . . and superficial. Mac couldn't help but think that it was just as it would have been had the past 24 hours never happened; had they never embarked upon a relationship in the first place. And he didn't like it.

They were both finished eating, nursing their glasses of wine, when Mac had to speak. "Jo, I don't want to malign your father's memory, but I really think we need to talk about . . . us. Sooner rather than later." He placed his hand tentatively on hers. She had a sudden flashback to her own actions at the restaurant. _Just last night_, she mused. So much had happened.

She nodded to Mac, standing up and gently removing her hand from his. She motioned him into the seating area with a movement of her head. It seemed she pointedly took the flowery armchair, leaving the entire length of the couch for him alone.

He sighed, looking at his feet a moment, feeling her anticipatory stare boring into him. "Jo, I shouldn't have spoken earlier today without taking the time to think about what I wanted to say. I know I mislead you, scared you, hurt you. That was absolutely not my intention." He glanced up at her, but her face was unreadable.

He continued, his gaze shifting from her face to his hands in his lap. "I really am committed to us, to making this work. And although I've done it before, it does not come easy to me - having a relationship with a colleague - particularly you because we work so closely together. You're the Assistant Supervisor of the Lab, for Christ's sake."

"I know my title." She stated, her voice monotone.

He nodded, his confidence slightly subdued by the coldness of her comment. "It . . . it just feels a bit awkward." He snuck a quick look in her direction. Her expression remained stoic.

He took a deep breath, trying not to let her seeming indifference to his words deter him. "That's what I was trying to tell you earlier. Not that I don't see a way to make this work, or that I don't want to find one. Just that it's going to be difficult. And I'm a little scared." He rubbed his hand across his face. "No, actually I'm really scared. This afternoon, that was my fear getting the upper hand. The image of us both at that crime scene, everyone watching us." This time, he saw a flash of anger flit across her face.

She took a deep breath. "Boy, when you questioned my ability to work a scene with you today, that was a low blow Mac. That really hurt."

"I know, and I'm truly sorry . . ."

She cut him off. "I know you know. And you already apologized, multiple times. But I haven't had a chance yet to vent, so just be quiet a minute and listen to how I feel."

She ran her fingers through her hair and her bracelets chimed. She stared directly at him. "Look Mac, I know this is hard for you. But you know what? It's hard for me too. It's scary for me too. You're not the only one here. It's not all about you, it doesn't all revolve around you. I'm part of this too."

He opened his mouth to say something but she cut him off, scoffing slightly. "Mac, it's a relationship. That implies 'relating', connecting, which requires at least two people. Not just you. Not just your concerns." She sighed but continued before Mac could respond. "Mac, I have my own issues. I have a family, and although they're not babies anymore, they're still my family. I have my own past, I have my own career, I have my own professional reputation to maintain. It's not . . . just . . . you."

"I acted stupidly, I know . . ."

"You acted selfishly. Completely ignoring my concerns, or even whether I might have any. For a minute there, you reminded me of Russ."

"Jesus Jo, I'm not Russ. I would hope that from the few years we've known each other you can see that."

Jo smiled, but he could see hesitation in her features. "I know you're not Russ. But Russ wasn't always 'Russ' either. I loved him enough to marry him once. He changed. I changed. Our relationship changed. And your lack of confidence in my ability to separate my personal life from my professional one just made me think back to some of the issues Russ and I had. He didn't think the two could coexist and wanted me to give up one. I'm sorry, but your lack of confidence in my ability to remain professional on the job dredged up a whole lot from my past."

"I know, old wounds aren't easily forgotten."

"Well, they shouldn't be if you learned anything from them."

"Jo, I know. I would never doubt your professionalism. I've worked with you for almost three years and have never doubted your commitment to your job as well as your commitment to your family. You seem to have an uncanny ability to meld the two in your life with just the right balance that it all works seamlessly. I should never have doubted that you wouldn't grace our relationship with that same commitment and balance."

Jo nodded but said nothing.

Mac pursed his lips a moment and looked over at her, speaking quietly. "And you know, I'm glad you brought up your family. I've never been with anyone who had a family before, and . . . frankly that's a little scary for me too. It's something I've never experienced for myself and it's a bit disconcerting to think that I may be thrust into someone else's, especially this far along in our lives."

"Mac, I expect my kids are going to be the least of our concerns. Ellie adores you. Tyler respects you. And if they see I'm happy, then they'll be happy too. They're old enough that I don't expect they'll see you as an intruder and certainly not a replacement for Russ. He's had a minimal role in Ellie's life; she probably knows you better than him. And Tyler, like you said last night, he's all grown up. He's got his own relationship issues to deal with; he could probably care less about mine."

"And Russ?"

She groaned. "Russ needs to get over me."

Jo paused, deep in thought a moment, before continuing. "Nonetheless, my family doesn't need a play by play of our relationship either. In fact, I doubt I'll tell them for a good while."

"Of course; same goes for everyone at the Lab I should think." She nodded slightly, before he continued. "And I am sorry about earlier - I let my fears and self-doubt take over today. It won't happen again."

"You know Mac if it happened today, it probably is gonna happen again. But I'm right here. You can talk to me anytime about any concerns, any fears you may have. We're in this together. I want it to work too." She reached out and placed her hand on his knee. "Please don't start building barriers already. If anything, you should begin to tear some down. If we're going to be together, we need to share more than just sex."

He smiled and nodded his head. He reached out and gently grasped her hand in his, bringing it to his mouth and placing a light kiss on it. Jo smiled and stroked his palm with her finger. He was about to rise and lean over to kiss her properly on the lips, when she stood from the chair, her hand disengaging from his.

"Let's clear the dishes." She announced, as she walked over to the table. Mac sighed and rose from the couch. Despite what she was saying, she'd seemed to be maintaining a certain level of distance between the two of them all night. As he approached the table he eyed his gym bag and cringed inwardly. Bringing it tonight had clearly been a mistake, he thought, as he began clearing dishes.

-/-/-/-/-

"Hey you want to taste my mama's special after dinner coffee?" Jo called from the kitchen as Mac wandered in from the bathroom. She was finishing up the last of the dishes.

"Why does the fact that it's your 'mama's' special recipe scare me slightly, even though I've never met her?"

Jo chuckled. "Because her reputation extends well past the state line. Plus you already know yours truly – multiply me by a factor of about 50 and you might have a sense of what she's like."

He smiled. '"Fifty of you might be . . . interesting to say the least."

She scoffed. "You're having enough trouble with just one, so I'd take it easy tiger."

He shook his head, grinning. "All right. But I'll still try the drink. I assume it's slightly stronger than just coffee?"

Here eyes glinted. "It could tame even my daddy." She handed him a wet towel. "Here, you wipe off the table, I'll bring out the coffee when it's ready."

He nodded and turned back towards the dining room. Jo started the coffee brewing and reached for the bottle of Southern Comfort on a shelf over the sink. Just as she lifted it up, a small collection of sticky-notes from the neighboring cupboard door suddenly detached and took flight, cascading down and startling Jo. Her hand slipped off the bottle and it came crashing down against the edge of the sink, the neck of the bottle cracking and the last of the liquor seeping out and down the drain.

Mac came flying around the corner and she looked up at him. "Oh my God, Mac. I can't believe I just did that."

He glanced past her into the sink, seeing the cracked bottle. "Well you've got good aim; there's not much to clean up." She rolled her eyes and stepped back from the sink.

He picked up the bottle, dropping it in the garbage. "What happened?"

"I was startled by an errant sticky-note floating down from above."

Mac looked at her, his face a mirror of incomprehension, but rather than ask for clarification, he merely reached into the cupboard for two coffee mugs.

"Well, we'll just have to go get some more." Jo said matter of factly.

Mac glanced at his watch. It was almost 11:30. "Jo, just plain coffee is fine.

She gazed up at him, the shadow of a smile crossing her mouth. "No, I really wanna make this. I haven't made one in so long. There's a liquor store just around the corner, open 'til midnight on Saturdays. Let's go for a little walk. Helps digestion anyway."

Mac trailed behind her as she moved towards the entryway to put on her shoes. "So, should I be worried, you know the hours of the neighborhood liquor store?"

Jo chuckled as she grabbed her keys and wallet from the corner table. "Oh please, they sell more than just alcohol. Come on, you know that feeling when you drag home from a grueling late shift, body aching, stomach empty, mind numb. The only remedy, a pint of triple chocolate chip ice cream." She sighed dramatically, a forlorn look on her face. "A rather poor replacement for a good shoulder massage, I must admit, but sometimes you gotta take what you can get."

He shook his head as he put his shoes on. "Gee, I never pegged you as a chocolate lover." He deadpanned.

She shot him a withering glance and he barely had time to grab his coat from the wall, before she pulled him out her door.

A few minutes later they entered the small corner store. The cashier glanced up from his crossword puzzle and smiled upon seeing Jo. "Jo, how's it goin'?" He greeted her amicably. She waved back, flashing him a smile. "Hey George. Not too bad. You?" He gave her a thumbs up and returned to his puzzle.

Mac looked sideways at her. "First name basis? That's a lot of pints of ice cream." She punched him playfully in the arm and walked up to the register, as Mac disappeared behind her, his attention focused on something at the end of the aisle. "George, I need some Southern Comfort."

George smiled and stood up, reaching behind him to grab a bottle. "Southern Comfort for a Southern Belle. Good choice tonight – gonna storm any second. Keep you cozy!"

She smiled and opened her wallet. Mac reappeared, sidling up beside her, and placed a pint of triple chocolate chip ice cream on the counter along with two twenty dollar bills.

She glanced up at him, her mouth blossoming into a huge smile. He winked at her as he finished paying and took the bag from George, nodding as they exited the store.

Mac held the door for her and tentatively placed his arm around her shoulders. But as they began walking, Mac felt a raindrop hit the tip of his nose. He glanced up, noting the stark contrast in the cloud cover from when they'd entered the store only a few minutes earlier. The storm was moving fast and from the looks of the clouds overhead, rain was imminent. He glanced over at Jo. She was smiling up at the sky. "Oh Mac, can't you just smell the rain?"

He nodded slightly, taking her hand to hurry her. "I can feel it too." But before the words were out of his mouth, the clouds released and a torrential downpour inundated the city.

Mac pulled her and they took off running. Just after rounding the corner, Mac noticed a recessed doorway to a music shop, covered by a small awning, and pulled her in. He pushed her back against the locked door, and turned his own back to the sidewalk, trying his best to shield her. One glance in her direction however and it was obvious it was too late.

Her hair was drenched, water still dripping down her nose and chin, her mascara smudged. Her clothing was completely soaked through, her light cardigan now hanging heavily, plastered to her body, and the thin tank top rendered nearly inconsequential, soaked as it was. She looked back at him and began laughing hysterically. Mac simply looked at her a moment, but her mirth was contagious and eventually what started as an amused grin turned into a hearty chuckle from him as well.

"Shall we wait it out?" He asked her once they'd calmed down, nodding his head towards the still pouring rain.

But before she could answer her teeth began chattering, her shoulders shivering uncontrollably.

His features wrinkled in concern. "Jo, you're freezing." Mac managed to shake off his jacket and wrap it around her shoulders.

"Mac, don't, you're going to be soaked."

He laughed. "I already am." He reached out to her, pulling her body close to his, _to warm her_, he told himself; but in reality, he knew he just needed to feel her close to him. She'd been too distant for his liking this evening.

"Are we going to be ok now?" He said into her ear a moment later, trying to be heard above the pounding of the rain on the awning.

She pulled back from him slightly. "I don't know Mac, are we?" She looked up at him questioningly.

He reached out and grazed her cheek ever so softly with his right thumb. _Damn_, she thought, _that always feels so good._ She felt herself melting into him, her eyelids closing heavily. She nuzzled her face against his hand, then leaned against his wet sweater, pushing her shivering body further into his, trying to regain some of their closeness.

Mac softly stroked the side of her hair for a moment, leaning his cheek down towards her, resting it gently on her head. Slowly she tilted her head back and smiled softly up at him. He moved his head down towards her, tentatively, uncertain of how she might respond.

She felt him nearing her mouth and tensed slightly. She'd been wanting to pull back, not just now - from him, but in general - from them. She'd feared they'd moved too fast for him last night, and she'd intended to put some distance between them. Not to end things, just to move more slowly. And, on a more selfish note, she didn't want to get hurt. At least any more than she already had this afternoon.

But he had apologized, sincerely. And she could understand his fears. She was experiencing some of them too. Yet she didn't understand his way of dealing with them. He was so damned closed off. If he'd only talked to her earlier about how to navigate working together. But now, in his arms, enveloped by his smell, his strength, his whole being, she felt that need for distance melting away into the warmth emanating from his embrace.

When he was a breath away from her lips and she still hadn't slapped him, he figured he was safe for now and placed a soft, gentle kiss there. Overcome by the myriad emotions she was experiencing, she suddenly pulled him tighter to her, deepening the kiss quickly, her hand rising up to toy with the damp hair just behind his ear.

She dissolved into him and they stood, entwined together, for over a minute, lost in the kiss, until Mac finally pulled his head back looking into her eyes.

"I think we're going to be fine." He said softly, glancing back to see that the rain, although still coming down, had diminished markedly.

He smiled. "Shall we make a run for it?" He asked her, moving back slightly.

She shifted, adjusting Mac's jacket on her shoulders so she could put her arms through the sleeves. She looked him directly in the eye a moment and her eyes narrowed. Damn, she just couldn't resist him. "Race ya." She suddenly blurted out.

Her gaze fixed on Mac's, she saw the spark of comprehension light his eyes as her words sunk in, followed by the unmistakable glint of competition. But before he could act, she jetted around him and shot out of the doorway towards her apartment, a huge smile on her face. A split second later, he followed suit, gaining on her fast. A few steps from the entry to her building, he reached out and grabbed her arm, causing her to lose her balance. He pulled her back against him, keeping her from stumbling.

She struggled in his arms. "Hey, you can't do that. You cheated."

Mac was laughing deeply. He wrestled her up to the doorway and touched his shoulder to the glass door, still holding her in a bear hug. "I won." He stated triumphantly, a giddy grin plastered on his face.

She managed to twist around in his arms so that she was facing him. "Mac, you cheated!" She cried indignantly, pushing against his chest in a halfhearted effort to free herself. She stopped struggling suddenly and a moment later he felt the distinct pressure of her knee, poised, just touching his groin. "Better be careful Mac." A smug smile on her face.

"You wouldn't dare." He narrowed his eyes, staring at her, but she met his gaze, the edge of her mouth turning up slightly, the pressure of her knee increasing ever so slightly between his legs.

He knew she was unbalanced, standing only on one foot, most of her body weight supported by his own hold on her. Feigning concern for himself, he slowly released his grip around her body, then suddenly grabbed both her shoulders as he slid to the side, his leg sweeping under hers, twisting her around so that her back was now against the doorway. He pressed up sideways against her, preventing her from moving.

"Gotcha." He intoned. "Remind me to send you for remedial counter-attack training the next time they have a seminar at the Academy." And he smiled.

Her eyes widened, whether in surprise at his quick move or in annoyance at what he'd just said, he wasn't sure.

He laughed anyway and loosened his hold on her, his body still pressing against hers. He leaned in and placed a small kiss on her wet forehead.

"You know how beautiful you are?" He murmured next to her ear

Her lips crooked into a half smile. "Mac, I'm all wet."

He merely smiled. "I noticed." She glanced down at herself, suddenly all too aware of the fact that her drenched clothing provided him with a perfect silhouette of her body underneath. She noticed his unabashed stare, the way he fought to tear his gaze away from her chest, and decided that perhaps maintaining distance between them wasn't really what she wanted right now.

Her lips parted slightly as she felt a tingling sensation spreading out through her body all the way to her fingertips. She leaned into him, her hand reaching out to cup him gently through his soaking trousers. He wasn't aroused yet, but she hoped that would change shortly.

"Have you ever had sex outside Mac?" She asked suddenly.

He eyed her suspiciously and she felt him tense. "Jo, I don't think your doorstep is the place . . ."

"Don't get all worked up. It was just a question, not a proposition. I was just curious."

He took a deep breath, and shrugged. "Claire and I used to go camping. . ."

"No, no, Mac, that doesn't count. I mean hard, fast, spur of the moment, can't wait 'til we get home so we're doin' it right out here in the alleyway, sex. It's different."

He cocked his head slightly, his eyes avoiding her penetrating gaze. "Maybe, a long time ago." His voice was low, but she had the impression it wasn't out of shyness.

"Am I making you nervous?"

He shook his head slowly. "Nervous isn't the word that comes to mind."

She pressed even harder against him, her hand stroking down his chest, through the wet fabric of his sweater, finally coming to rest just below his belt, where she could feel him, noticeably larger this time. He shivered, whether from the rain or her caress on his groin, she couldn't tell.

He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "What do you say we go upstairs and kiss and make up?"

Jo fumbled with his jacket a moment, and gave him a saucy grin as she pulled out the box of condoms he'd stashed in there earlier. "I was kinda hopin' for more than just a kiss."

Mac took a deep breath. He was confused by her sudden change in demeanor. Barely an hour ago she'd said she wanted them to share more than just sex. But she suddenly gave him one last squeeze before withdrawing her hand from his crotch to reach over and press the entry code on the panel, and he decided any further analysis of her state of mind right now would be fruitless. He let her take his hand and lead him through the lobby.

As they entered the elevator, Mac couldn't help himself any longer. As Jo walked in, he quickly moved against her, pushing her back against the wall. Startled, she looked up to see the spark of desire clouding his eyes, the need etched in his expression, the barely controlled lust evident in the tight set of his jaw and mouth. God, in that moment, he looked so intense, so passionate, so virile. And she ached for him.

He reached out, his hand roughly tracing the outline of her breast through her dripping clothes. He pulled her closer to him, his mouth seeking out hers, his hand continuing its assault on her nipple. She moaned, reaching up with her right hand to weave her fingers through the hair on the back of Mac's head.

Realizing the elevator doors were still open, Jo extricated her fingers from Mac's hair just long enough to press the floor button. Mac reached down with his other hand, stroking the denim of her jeans between her legs. Jo shuddered at the pressure of his hand there. She thought that had her clothes not been so drenched from the rain, he would likely feel her arousal all the way through her clothing.

His hand snaked back behind her and pulled her even closer to him. There was no question as to his level of arousal now. She could feel him pressing hard against her hip and she moved her leg, increasing the pressure. Through their kiss, she heard a muffled groan from his throat, and she moved her leg again, more forcefully this time. He pulled away from her mouth, his breath hissing, his forehead now leaning against hers, and his other hand rose up to fondle her other nipple.

Exiting the elevator, they paused outside her apartment, Jo trying to extricate her keys from her pocket while Mac continued his assault on her breasts and mouth. Finally managing to open the door to her apartment, they stumbled inside, Mac's hand still touching the curve of her left breast, their lips still joined.

Jo managed to close the door by pushing Mac's body against it, her keys dropping to the floor. Her hands trailed down his sweater to the hem, which she grabbed and unceremoniously yanked over his head and arms, sending a million tiny water droplets spraying over them from the water logged threads. She shuddered at the feel of the cold drops splattering her face and arms, then groaned in protest, realizing that there was still the damp cotton of his undershirt keeping her from making direct contact with the hard muscle of his chest.

Mac caught on quickly and ripped it over his head. A hazy image of Ellie wandering through the front door, home early from her camping trip, flitted through Jo's imagination and she reached out blindly, searching for the deadbolt and chain, finally locating them and moving them into place before anything could intrude upon their fervent coupling.

She toed her shoes off and let Mac's jacket fall off her arms to the doormat, her mouth still on his, Mac's hands now attempting to wander under her tank top. They moved a few feet into the room and Mac, frustrated at his inability to peel away the sodden material of her tank top from her skin, grabbed at her cardigan, pulling it forcefully down over her shoulders and past her waist so he could lift her small top up and over her head, finally freeing her breasts. She'd had no bra on he realized, and he felt himself throb and grow harder at the thought.

As he dipped his head, lathing her nipples with his tongue, Jo struggled to remove her cardigan, which was still stuck around her waist. She finally yanked it hard enough the button tore off and it, along with the sweater, fell to her feet. They had almost reached the hallway by now.

"Mac, bedroom." She managed to spit out. "End . . . of the hall . . ."

"Too far." He groaned, and she shuddered as his hands began to unlatch his belt, realizing just what he'd meant.

His belt out of the way, he ripped open the button on his pants, yanking the zipper down as he peeled the wet garment over his hips and down his legs, his wet boxers sliding down with them.

He reached out to her, the urgency of his need evident in the way his hands trembled, fumbling with her jeans. The denim, drenched from the rain, was impossibly uncooperative as he tried without success to undo the clasp above her zipper. She pushed his hands away and tackled them herself, finally managing to extricate herself, one leg at a time. She shivered, her clammy skin suddenly making contact with the cool air of her apartment.

As soon as she'd divested herself of her pants, he curled his thumbs into each side of her thong and drug it roughly down her legs, not even bothering to remove it from her feet.

She noticed him lift his hand to his mouth, realizing suddenly that at some point he must've grabbed a condom from the box in his jacket pocket. He tore open the packet with his teeth, letting it fall to the ground as he looked down at himself and rolled it up his length.

Faced with the intensity of his hunger for her, she suddenly felt weak.

"Mac . . ."

Finished with the condom, he glanced up at her, his body approaching to press her up against the wall, almost painfully so. He kissed her hard, then drew back, his gaze piercing.

"I have no problem with hard, fast and spur of the moment – just not on the front doorstep, ok?" And before she could respond, Mac reached out, pushed her back against the wall of the hallway and, cupping her ass in both of his hands, lifted her off the floor and pressed his pelvis hard against her.

Her gasp of surprise quickly turned into a deep moan as he adjusted her body slightly, her warmth caressing the tip of his hard-on, and plunged into her.

Unsure of where to put her hands, her right arm flailed outwards against the wall, knocking several items off the small corner table next to them. Her left hand found refuge at the back of Mac's neck, urging him closer. She arched her back and neck, gasping as he began thrusting into her, building the pace quickly.

Mac was panting hard, whether from the effort of holding her up, the pounding rhythm he was maintaining or the sheer excitement of the whole situation. Jo was lost in the overwhelming sensations flooding through her body when suddenly she heard his voice speaking her name.

"Jo," Mac barely managed to form the words. "Brace your feet on the wall behind me."

She complied, allowing Mac to tilt her hips back slightly, opening her up further which in turn allowed him to slip deeper inside her. She moaned uncontrollably as the familiar sensation of warmth and pressure began to well up from her core.

His pelvis slapped deliciously against her entrance each time he plunged into her and she could feel the familiar pressure building out of control within her. Her body trembled in imminent release and her nails dug into Mac's shoulder as she gripped him ever harder.

Suddenly one of his hands slipped under her bottom and she slid ever so slightly down the wall, gasping in surprise. Mac, assuming she'd been hurt, stopped thrusting and moved to pull out. She clamped her legs hard around his waist. "Oh God, no, Mac Taylor, don't you dare stop now." She'd been so close. She ground her body against his, trying to regain the feeling.

He leaned into her, panting. "I thought you got hurt." He managed to spit out.

"Jesus, I'm fine . . . just . . . don't stop." And she braced her hands, forearms and elbows on the wall behind her, her feet still jammed into the opposing wall, so that she could thrust her pelvis even harder into him.

His breath seethed as he felt her body pressing into his, her muscles gripping around him and he began driving into her again.

Having been so close before, Jo could feel the pressure mounting again, reaching it's peak until it erupted inside her and flooded her body. She thrust her head back, her eyes closed, her mouth open, poised to scream out his name.

Mac covered her mouth with a kiss, swallowing her cries. He felt her body begin to go limp from her release and he hurriedly drove into her once, twice and finally a third time before his own orgasm exploded through his body, grunting uncontrollably as each wave coursed through him.

Mac could feel his strength waning quickly and he knelt slowly, gently lowering Jo to the floor until she was sitting in his lap. They stayed like that for several minutes, their breathing slowly evening out, their foreheads pressed together,

Finally, Jo shifted to allow Mac to remove the condom. She handed him a tissue from the box lying next to her leg, one of the items she'd knocked from the table earlier.

She sighed loudly. "So was that make-up sex? Because if it was, then the rumors must be true."

Mac grinned slyly. "It wasn't make-up sex. It was me trying to show you that I accept our relationship 100%. No turning back, no cold feet, no self doubt." He leaned in to give her a series of brief kisses on her forehead, her nose and finally her mouth. "Doesn't mean we need to announce it to the world right away. We'll tell the team and your kids whenever the time feels right, but from now on, we only move forward." He kissed her again.

The only response she could manage was a low moan.

-/-/-/-/-

Jo nuzzled her cheek against Mac's chest, blowing gently across one of his nipples and sending a small cloud of bubbles floating over the edge of the tub and onto the floor.

Mac took a drink of his coffee, his other arm wrapped around Jo's shoulders, his fingers lazily tracing some unknown design on the upper half of her breast. "I can see why your parents were inseparable – if your mom made your dad one of these every night, he probably couldn't have gotten up to leave had he wanted to."

She splashed him, sending another array of bubbles floating in every direction. "The secret's the brown sugar – balances out the bitterness of the coffee and the spicy burn of the Southern Comfort."

She lay her head against his shoulder as she reached over for the ice cream container nestled in the soap dish at the corner of the tub. She took a large bite and glanced up at Mac.

"So, where did you have sex outside?"

He coughed slightly. "Jo. I said it was a long time ago."

"Come on I'm just curious. Besides, I wanna know everything about you Mac Taylor. And I know it won't be easy. I understand you're a very private person; you keep everything locked up inside that head of yours." She looked up at him. "But I hope that someday you trust me enough to start to share some of it." She sat up a moment, reaching over him to set down the ice cream container on the floor.

Mac did the same with his drink. "It's not an issue of trust Jo. I trust you with my life already. It's an issue of . . . letting go - of the past, of ones fears, of one's self doubt and opening yourself up to new things. I'll do my best. I promise."

She caressed his arm languidly. "Well, all right. I suppose that'll have to do for now. But if you're not forthcoming, I may have to resort to some of the interrogation tactics I learned at the Bureau.

"I'll have you know I'm pretty resistant. The Marine Corps trains you in counter-interrogation techniques."

"Ah, but Mac, no one can resist me". She shifted slightly and he felt her hand slowly trailing up his inner thigh. "Not even a trained Marine."

His breath hitched as her finger grazed over a particularly sensitive part. "Mmmmm, you just might be right."

**A/N: One more chapter to go – no I haven't forgotten about the jewelry box. And rest assured, neither has Mac ;)**


	8. Chapter 8 Epilogue: Satiety

**End of Previous Chapter:**

She caressed his arm languidly. "Well, all right. I suppose that'll have to do for now. But if you're not forthcoming, I may have to resort to some of the interrogation tactics I learned at the Bureau.

"I'll have you know I'm pretty resistant. The Marine Corps trains you in counter-interrogation techniques."

"Ah, but Mac, no one can resist me". She shifted slightly and he felt her hand slowly trailing up his inner thigh. "Not even a trained Marine."

His breath hitched as her finger grazed over a particularly sensitive part. "Mmmmm, you just might be right."

**A Nice Dinner 8 – Epilogue: Satiety (The condition of being full, to or beyond satisfaction)**

_Two Days Later, Tuesday morning:_

Jo Danville trudged down the subway stairs, fighting with her umbrella in a futile effort to force it to retract. She finally gave up, shoving it halfway extended into her bag, coating herself with a fine spray of water droplets from its edges as she did so.

She huffed loudly. She could not believe her luck this morning; or rather lack thereof. She wasn't due in the Lab for another hour, but Mac would be stuck in budget meetings until at least mid-afternoon, so she was in charge. She'd hoped to get in early to catch up on everything that had come in over the long weekend, but at this rate, she'd be lucky if she arrived on time, let alone early.

It had all started in the elevator down to her car. She'd brought a mug of coffee to finish on the way down and while searching for her car keys in her bag, she'd spilled half of it down her shirt. Which required her to go back up and change. When she finally made it back down to her car, it had refused to start. After ten minutes of trying everything she could think of, she'd given up. A quick call to the tow company only made matters worse when they informed her it would be two hours before anyone could get to her. She'd tried to flag a taxi but with the rain, every single one that passed by her was already occupied. Now she was stuck taking the subway, but couldn't seem to find her Metrocard in her bag for the life of her. She groaned as she saw the size of the line in front of the ticket vending machines.

Ten minutes later and she was finally on the platform, having just missed the last train. She glanced around her, mentally calculating where to position herself so that once the next train arrived, she could board quickly while circumventing as much of the crowd as possible.

As she eyed the busy platform, she noticed an ad for the new Batman movie. She felt some of the tension in her shoulders release and she couldn't help but smile as her thoughts trailed back to yesterday afternoon, when she'd met Mac at the theater to see it.

. . .

_After spending the night together Saturday, they'd barely had a chance to see each other. Mac had spent Sunday moving his friend's daughter and had ended up staying with them for dinner. He'd called later to check in with Jo, but she'd fallen asleep on her couch and he'd insisted that she just go to bed, alone, and get some much needed rest. They'd agreed to meet for brunch Monday, but Mac had gotten an early call and been tied up until well after lunchtime._

_When he'd finally called Monday afternoon, inviting her to meet him at the movie theater, she'd jumped at the chance to see him once again before Ellie returned that night. She stifled a laugh now, recalling how she'd quizzed him about the plot line as they'd left the theater because she was certain he hadn't paid any attention to the movie. Every time she'd glanced over at him sitting next to her, he'd been watching her, rather than the screen. Even so, somehow he'd seemed to follow the story as he'd answered all of her questions correctly._

_. . ._

Still smiling to herself, Jo glanced down the subway tunnel, seeing the headlights approaching, and she gradually sidled her way closer to the edge of the platform, just to the side of where the doors would end up. A few people looked at her askance for sidestepping the queue that had formed, but she made a show of readjusting her badge on her belt loop and in response, everyone seemed to leave her alone. As the train pulled in and the doors slid open, she stepped aside to allow a few passengers to exit, then quickly hopped on. Noting that all the seats were already taken, she quickly made her way to a far corner where she'd at least be able to huddle and avoid the worst of the horde boarding the car.

As the train took off, she was jarred backwards into a handrail in the corner. Although uncomfortable, the sudden pressure against her backside also served to conjure up an image of her quick subway ride with Mac the day before, following the movie.

_. . ._

_Having met near a theater in Times Square, they'd both taken the subway to avoid weekend traffic. After the movie, they'd decided to grab a quick snack at Mac's favorite coffee shop Uptown before she had to return home to await Ellie's return. Once on the train, Mac had maneuvered her through the crowded car to seek refuge in a back corner. As the crowd had closed in upon them, Jo had had to press backwards into Mac to avoid being taken out by a small child wielding her princess umbrella in front of her like a sword. Smiling down at the child, while carefully avoiding being poked in the eye, Jo had not been paying any attention to the train. As it had jerked to a start, she'd nearly lost her balance and Mac had reached out, wrapping his arms around her body and pulling her close to him to steady her._

_She'd smiled, murmuring her thanks, but when she'd attempted to shift and give him some space, his arms had encircled her even tighter, preventing her from moving away. He'd leaned into her, nuzzling her neck, placing a light kiss there, one of his thumbs snaking under her jacket and subtly stroking the underside of her breast through her shirt. 'I've missed you.' He'd whispered in her ear, and he'd moved in to place another soft kiss on her cheek._

_One stop later, as the train had jolted around a curve, she'd distinctly felt him pressing into her from behind, clearly aroused. Her breath had caught in her throat and she'd leaned even further back into him. He'd began mumbling something in her ear about the movie and something else he'd like to do with her, but she'd been so taken aback by his actions in the midst of the crowded subway car that his words hadn't quite registered._

. . .

Suddenly Jo was shocked out of her reverie by the announcement of her stop. She bolted ahead and fought her way to the doors, barely descending the car before a new mass of people pushed their way in. She let out a breath and shook her head, trying to clear her mind as she walked up the stairs to the street and on to the Lab, the raindrops assaulting her as she now fought to open her defiant umbrella.

A few minutes before 8 a.m., she exited the elevator onto the 35th floor, glancing over at Mac's office out of habit. _Of course he's not there_, she chided herself. His meeting started at 8; he'd be over at One Police Plaza now meeting with the department heads yet again about how to cut costs. She didn't envy him that duty – she'd had to do it while he was out on sick leave after his shooting and she'd dreaded the quarterly sessions that always seemed to dwindle down to an argument over just how many different chemicals and lab techs the Lab really needed.

She stepped into her office, draped her raincoat on the rack and dropped her umbrella onto the floor below, shaking a few random droplets out of her hair.

She pulled out her chair and stared, shaking her head, at the small pile of incoming mail that had accumulated there since she'd last been in Saturday. A quick glance at her watch told her she had just under a half an hour before the morning briefing meeting. She'd better get started preparing for it.

She grabbed the pile off the chair, created a new pile on her desk and sat heavily down. Before pulling the case files from the weekend off her desk corner, she quickly glanced at the morning's newspaper that had been delivered to her office. One particular headline caught her eye, mentioning a potential strike by the City's horse-drawn carriage drivers. There was a photo of several of the carriages lined up along Central Park South and Jo felt her mind being pulled back yet again to her time spent with Mac the day before.

_. . ._

_After Jo had first felt Mac pressing into her from behind on the subway, he had suddenly disentangled his arms from around her and led her off the train at the next stop. They'd exited the station at the southern edge of Central Park, near the intersection of 57th and 7th Avenue._

_Glancing over at Mac, he'd merely smiled softly at her as he'd led her up the stairway. Once at the top, walking towards the Park, she'd looked at him curiously. 'I thought that little coffee shop you like was on Lexington.'_

_He'd nodded curtly. 'It is, but I thought of something else we could do instead.' He'd paused, then added a bit shyly. 'If you don't mind.'_

_She'd smiled. 'Mac Taylor, what on earth do you have up your sleeve?'_

_Getting no response other than a mischievous grin, she'd shrugged her shoulders and sighed dramatically. 'Well, I always like surprises.'_

_Mac had glanced at his watch. 'It's 6:30; what time is Ellie due back?' He'd asked as they waited for the traffic signal to change._

'_Probably not 'til 8.' She'd furrowed her brow. 'Where are we going anyway?'_

'_You'll see.' And he'd taken her hand to lead her across the street to Central Park South, heading towards 6th Avenue. They'd passed along the line of horse-drawn carriages until Mac stopped in front of one. The driver, an elderly, white haired gentleman, had looked up from the book he was reading and suddenly beamed as he noticed Mac standing in front of him. He'd gingerly stepped down from the carriage and embraced Mac in a hug. They'd spoken quietly amongst one another a moment then the driver had motioned them both into the carriage with a grand smile and large wave of his hand, which he'd continued to hold out to help Jo as she climbed in._

_Once inside the carriage, Mac had glanced at her. 'You ever ridden one before?'_

_Jo had cocked her head slightly. 'Sure, it was one of the first things Ellie wanted to do when we moved here.'_

_He'd smiled slightly and looked down at his hands. 'You ever ridden one with someone other than your kids?'_

_Jo had tossed her head back slightly and narrowed her eyes, looking at him suspiciously. 'No, I can't say that I have.'_

_Mac had looked back up at her, a glint forming in his eye as he spoke. 'Well, I happen to think it's one of the most romantic things you can do in New York.'_

_She'd nodded slowly. 'Ah, I see. And first name basis with the driver, means you take all your dates on one of these little rides?'_

_Mac had rolled his eyes. 'No, he's an old friend. I worked on a case involving his brother years ago. That's all.'_

_She'd smiled coquettishly. 'So now you've got me trapped in here, what're you going to do with me?'_

_And without a word, his eyes holding her gaze, he'd leaned over to her, until he was a mere breath away and his mouth had descended upon hers. Hesitating only a moment as the shock subsided, Jo had responded in kind and they'd managed to miss the initial landmarks the carriage passed by._

_A few minutes later, Jo had moaned as his fingers moved to her waist and began undoing the clasp on her khaki pants. A moment later they were unzipping the zipper, working their way inside, down between her legs, where he moved aside the soaked material of her panties and with no hesitation, plunged a finger inside her._

_She'd fumbled for his belt, but he'd shaken his head, whispering in her ear. 'No. Now is just for you.'_

_She'd wanted to protest, but when he added a second finger a moment later, she'd done nothing but gasp . . ._

. . .

"Jo, are you ok?"

Jo started, wondering who on earth was calling her name now.

"Jo?" Lindsay paused as she approached her desk, laying her coat and umbrella on her chair as she looked at Jo, concern written on her face.

Jo froze, realizing she must have gasped out loud as she was thinking. She cleared her throat and grabbed some file folders from her desk. "Oh, hey. Umm, sorry. I was just thinking about . . ." her eyes flitted over the top case file on her lap. ". . . uh, this Jordan case. Guess I got kinda caught up in it."

Lindsay wrinkled her nose slightly. "That's old, Jo; Danny and I closed it Friday morning before we left for the weekend."

Lindsay came around her desk and looked more closely at Jo. "Are you ok? You look really flushed." She reached her hand out and placed it on Jo's forehead. "Mmm, you feel hot. Are you getting the flu? Lucy had it a couple weeks ago. Oh my God, it was horrible. You should take care of yourself. You want some tea? I'm gonna go get some for myself. I'll get you a cup too." And with that, she turned on her heels and left the office.

Jo sat for a moment, her hands covering her mouth and nose, barely daring to breathe, her heart beating so loudly she was sure her chest was vibrating. _Lord, I need to get a hold of myself. _She thought, silently reprimanding herself for letting her thoughts wander off yet again. But damn, her mind was just so full of good memories from the weekend, she was having trouble keeping them at bay.

She shook her head vigorously, trying to send the memories scattering, and opened another file on her lap. She reached out blindly for a pen to take some notes for this morning's meeting, but her hand came up empty handed. Glancing up, she noted her cup of pencils was completely empty. Her brow furrowed. _What the . . ?_ She stood up surveying her desk to see if perhaps they had spilled but even after moving several different piles of papers and folders out of the way, she still didn't see a single writing implement.

She sat back in her chair a moment trying to figure out what on earth had happened to them. Shaking her head, she glanced down at the floor but, seeing nothing, she moved to pull open the small center drawer of her desk. There they were, all wrapped together neatly in a rubber band, placed next to a large manila envelope with her name written in pen and a small smiley face under it.

She stared at it a moment, then pulled it out tentatively. She was certain the handwriting was Mac's, but why would he have left her an envelope inside her drawer; she only kept junk in here. And why on earth would all her pens be here? Then it dawned on her. Mac never left her anything on her desk – he'd always said he was afraid it would get buried for months. He usually put things on her chair, but this was clearly private, given the little smiley face, so he must've stashed it in her drawer and hidden her pens so she'd look for them and find the envelope.

She smile slightly at that thought then glanced around her, making sure no one was near as she slowly opened the envelope and turned it upside down.

A small jewelry box tumbled out onto her lap, followed by a slip of stationery that wafted onto the floor by her chair.

She glanced down, eying the paper at her feet, seeing Mac's name signed at the bottom of a short note. She knew she should pick it up and read it first, but the little box in her lap was just too tempting and she grabbed it up, shooting one more glance into the hallway just in case Lindsay was on her way back with their tea.

Jo had never been able to resist a present – from the time she was little, she'd always torn into the wrapping paper as soon as the gift was in her hands, paying no mind to the gift tag, card or whom it was from. _Now is not the time to start working on that character fault_, she thought, as she ripped the ribbon off and flipped the little box open.

Her mouth broke into a huge grin upon seeing the item inside. It was a silver pendant in the shape of a spider, hanging on a delicate chain, reminiscent of a spider hanging off its web. She traced her finger over it's delicate detailing and carefully removed it from the box. She put the box and envelope back into her drawer and picked up the paper.

_Jo,_

_I hope you like this. While you were busy looking in that little jewelry shop the other day, I noticed this and just couldn't pass it up. It'll serve as a reminder of our first night together, or rather, what brought us closer together that night. I'll be forever thankful to that 'little' spider under your desk, because had it not startled you, I never would have sought you out in your office that night, you probably wouldn't have asked me to dinner, and, well, we'd better just leave it at that . . ._

_By the way, I left word with the cleaning service to be sure to clean regularly underneath your and Lindsay's desks, just to be safe. Although much appreciated, at least by me, one spider was probably enough._

_And if you're free this Friday night, I know this great little Italian restaurant right around the corner from my apartment. They have a great chocolate mousse that I haven't yet had the chance to fully appreciate. 9:00? What do you say we go out and have a nice dinner together? Again._

_Mac_

She felt her heart skip several beats as she read the note once through quickly, then re-read it at a slower pace, savoring every word. She smiled, fingering the fine chain of the necklace and clasped it around her neck.

"Hey." A soft voice spoke just behind her and she jumped.

Glancing up suddenly, she saw Mac. "Oh, Mac. You scared me. Again."

She stood, touching the necklace, and smiled shyly at him. "It's perfect. Thank you." She raised her eyebrows. "And of course I'd love to go out for that nice dinner. Again."

He merely smiled back at her.

She glanced at her watch suddenly. "Hey, what happened to your meeting?"

"Delayed an hour."

She frowned at him. "So you came back here?"

He shrugged. "I wanted to take care of something in the office." He moved closer towards her. "This." He glanced behind him into the hallway and seeing no one near, leaned in to place a quick but luxurious kiss on her lips.

Don Flack turned the corner on his way to Jo's office, saw Mac leaning in to plant a kiss on her lips, and without missing a beat, did a quick about face, swinging back around the corner from where he came and shaking his head as a huge grin spread across his face. He nearly crashed into Lindsay carrying two cups of tea and, as he grabbed one and mumbled his thanks, he gently maneuvered her around before she turned the corner so that she ended up accompanying him back in the direction from which she'd just come. "Lindsay, you're just the person I need to talk to about this Gilroy case. . . ."

~fin~

**A/N: Hope everyone liked it. Thanks so much to all of you who read through to the end, to those who marked it - or me - as a favorite, and especially to all those who took the time to leave reviews. They were incredibly helpful and encouraging. And finally, a huge thanks to Quille and Swarovski who provided extra encouragement and inspiration through their reviews and PMs while I was writing this.**


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